Literacy, early childhood, technology and the importance of educators were a few of the aspects of the teaching profession the 2025 Kansas Teacher of the Year team highlighted when they appeared before a joint meeting of the Kansas House and Senate education committees this week. 

Liz Anstine, the 2025 Kansas Teacher of the Year and business teacher at Leavenworth High School, Leavenworth USD 453, told the legislators the challenges educators have endured in recent years “have been immense but so has the dedication of our teachers.” 

“Unless you’ve stood in a classroom recently, it’s hard to grasp the extraordinary passion, resilience and tireless effort educators pour into their students daily,” she said. “The commitment of many teachers, especially those who are with me here today, is nothing short of heroic.” 

Maegan Stucky, a fifth-grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School, McPherson USD 418, echoed Anstine’s sentiments that teachers are fiercely passionate about helping their students not only learn but become the best version of themselves.  

“Our students come to us, sometimes broken or disconnected, and with every lesson, every moment of encouragement, we help them rediscover their own worth, their own potential,” she said. “We see their growth, even when they don’t see it themselves. We watch their lives change for the better because we choose to be teachers. Because we believe in them. From the start of the day making connections as human beings.” 

Seeing the light come on in his students’ eyes is what Ryan Mellick, industrial arts teacher at Bonner Springs High School, Bonner Springs-Edwardsville USD 204, said keeps him in the profession because he knows he’s teaching skills “nobody can take away.”  

“Shop classes teach craftsmanship, pride in their work, thinking on the fly, and problem solving,” he said. “Lessons are taught about what students need to do, then the students go do it. But when something goes wrong, I let the students figure it out. We learn from our failures and a project-based learning class allows for this to happen.” 

Like Mellick, Whitney Aves, a family and consumer sciences (FCS) teacher at Hutchinson High School, Hutchinson USD 308, said she is helping her students, who often come from struggling homes, develop skills they will take into adulthood.  

“In FCS classes, students learn to manage household budgets, juggle work-life balance, prepare nutritious meals, and nurture the growth and development of their future families,” she said. “These essential skills taught in family and consumer sciences can enable them to cultivate healthy, strong families, which in turn strengthen communities across Kansas and perhaps break the cycles that can hold many of our students and families back.”  

Olivia Winegeart, a classroom teacher at Paul B. Cooper Elementary, Derby USD 260, said public education is for all children, regardless of their circumstances, which can give them a “rich and fulfilling life.” She said making sure children can read serves as a “protective factor” for their lives. 

“As a second-grade teacher, I am acutely aware of the critical relationship between reading proficiency in the third grade and outcomes later in life,” she said. “That is especially true for students who are at-risk. That’s a really heavy reality. It is a load we are proud to carry but it is heavy, nonetheless. We know what’s at stake and the stakes are really, really high.” 

The lawmakers were reminded of the importance of investing in early childhood from Amber Pagan, a Pre-K teacher at Nieman Elementary, Shawnee Mission USD 512. 

“Early education has the potential to break the cycle of poverty,” she said. “It is our moral and economic responsibility to ensure that every child, regardless of their ZIP code, has access to high-quality, affordable early education. This is not just an investment in a child’s future. This is an investment in the future of our state and our nation.” 

Ben Eckelberry, a first-grade teacher at Tecumseh North Elementary, Shawnee Heights USD 450 shared about the importance of peer-to-peer play to the learning process. He told the story of an elementary-aged child who was used to getting a constant stream of dopamine from playing games on his father’s phone. The device, unlike humans, never reacted when he lost a game. As a result, the child became disruptive when asked to complete a worksheet in the classroom and his teacher had to make a decision: Stop what she was doing to take care of the emotional needs of this one child or meet the academic needs of 20 other students in the classroom. 

“What if I told you there is an efficient and engaging way to directly combat these social and emotional learning struggles while still maintaining our high expectations and academic rigor,” Eckelberry said. “I am referring to play. Play is a great way to build this insurmountable gap. We have a responsibility to intentionally provide more structured and unstructured play opportunities for students.” 

Students come from a variety of backgrounds and circumstances and teachers have to adapt to those challenges, KTOY team members told legislators. Erik Stone, who teaches music and digital media at Gordon Parks Academy, Wichita USD 259, said students “who are loved, supported, or feel safe, come to school ready to learn.” 

“Students who lack love, support, or safety, come to school looking for it,” he said. “By prioritizing relational capacity, we have an opportunity to create an environment where students feel valued, supported and empowered to reach their fullest potential. It is time to recognize the significance of relationships in education and take proactive steps to make our schools feel safe and promote student success.” 

The KTOY team members were also honored on Wednesday on the House and Senate floors. Click here to view the full KTOY team presentation.