Cultivating Passion: Meet Christine Mihealsick, ATPE Member and Texas Teacher of the Year
After being named Texas Teacher of the Year, ATPE member Christine Mihealsick is ready to use her new platform to spread positivity, helping fellow educators find joy in their work and support in their struggles.
Christine Mihealsick comes from a family of educators, but she wasn’t always sure that she wanted to follow in their footsteps. Both of her parents are retired now, but she saw firsthand how hard they worked. “I had no idea that this would be the life for me,” Mihealsick says. “But after volunteering at my mom’s school, I found out that I just liked working with kids and feeling like I made a difference.”
Mihealsick is an AP Environmental Science teacher at Westwood High School in Round Rock ISD, the campus science department chair, and a proud member of ATPE. In her 23 years as an educator, she has made a huge impact on both her students and her peers. In October, she was honored for her hard work and dedication by being named Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year, and she will go on to represent the state of Texas in the national Teacher of the Year competition as the Texas Teacher of the Year. ATPE is proud to sponsor the Texas Teacher of the Year program, which is facilitated by the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA).
An Interesting Hypothesis
Mihealsick attended Michigan Tech University for her first two years of college as an environmental engineering major.
“I thought that’s what I wanted to do,” Mihealsick says. “I like math and science, and I like being outside. So I ended up volunteering my freshman year with a program at the college working with at-risk youth in the community.”
Her freshman year, Mihealsick tutored bio and chem students who were struggling academically but just needed a little help to succeed.
“I just really loved it when I could help them learn something when they thought they couldn’t,” Mihealsick says. “I just knew they needed somebody in their corner. These kids were at risk of dropping out, and I just felt that there was something transformative for me helping kids that didn’t have advocates learn and grow.”
Her high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Riddle, was one of her favorite educators growing up because he was able to engage his classes with labs that he designed to be interesting and fun.
“He was amazing,” Mihealsick says. “I think his lessons really started me on the path for some sort of science career. He made me realize the potential to make science interesting for students and the importance of cultivating passion in the classroom.”
Fifteen years ago, Mihealsick started the AP Environmental Science class at Westwood High School with 24 students, and now the course enrolls 280. As an educator who has worked with students of all ages, Mihealsick feels that she has found her niche with high school juniors and seniors.
“I taught freshman biology for a couple years, and I just don’t think it suited me well,” Mihealsick explains. “Freshmen are still kind of like middle schoolers, and I have so much respect for middle school teachers because that kind of hormonal journey requires very special people to help them.”
With juniors and seniors, Mihealsick finds that she can help guide them to set and achieve goals for their lives.
“They have a lot going on,” Mihealsick explains. “Seniors especially are kind of at a crossroads in their life, and they’re trying to figure out what is the next step for them. It is so exciting to see kids work through that, and it brings me joy to help them find their niche.”
Positive Results
Mihealsick has only taught at a grand total of two schools throughout her entire teaching career, which began as a student teacher at Crockett High School in Austin ISD. She would go on to teach there as well, building long-lasting relationships with the staff and community.
After moving her family to Northwest Austin 17 years ago, Mihealsick found a position at the nearby Westwood High School.
“I’m really lucky to work at Westwood,” Mihealsick says. “It’s a very competitive school, especially the AP classes. It’s a gift to teach in a community with parents who are so engaged.”
Usually, Mihealsick would only teach AP Environmental Science, but this year, a teacher in her department quit about three weeks into the school year, and Mihealsick needed to cover that deficit. Last year was also challenging for her campus as they had two teachers leave, and her team had to work together to cover those classes as well.
“While we were going through the hiring process, people came to me a lot with things that were happening in their classroom, and I would try to troubleshoot and help people as much as I could last year,” Mihealsick says. “I think that’s part of the reason I was nominated. My peers saw how hard I was working, not only for my students but also to help support the teachers in my department.”
Mihealsick says that she is honored to have been named Texas Teacher of the Year, and she feels that the whole process has been both a crazy thrill ride and an amazing opportunity for her to shine light on the inspiring work of her fellow teachers both at her campus and across the state.
“The [recognition] that means the most to me is our campus because I was chosen by my peers—the people I work with,” Mihealsick says. “It feels great to be recognized for the hard work you do, and I want nothing more than to share this honor with those who have helped me get here today.”
Mihealsick believes that she is fortunate to be at a campus where the administration believes in and actively encourages teacher leadership. As a department chair, she is given both a great deal of responsibility and flexibility.
In a press release from Round Rock ISD, Westwood High School Principal Erin Campbell praises Mihealsick for what she has done for their campus: “There is no one more deserving of this recognition than Chris. She is a fierce advocate for kids, educators, and public education. Her impact is immense, and she makes a difference in so many lives. It is an honor to have her leadership at Westwood High School.”
The Joy of Discovery
In her third year of teaching, Mihealsick was fortunate to meet her future mentor, Joy Killough. Now retired, Killough was an AP Biology teacher at Westwood High School, and the two of them met in a research program that summer.
“Joy has just been amazing,” Mihealsick says. “I’ve been in a book club with her for 16 years now, and there are six of us who get together once a month. The book club is made up of other master teachers who have also mentored me ever since I first started at Westwood. They’re all retired now, but I will never forget how they took me in.”
Mihealsick credits this group of talented, experienced teachers for not only inspiring her but also helping her to find and ignite her passion for teaching.
“It helped me so much to have people support me and mentor me through an informal network,” Mihealsick says. “This is my 23rd year teaching, and perhaps because of their help, I’m going to retire as a teacher.”
Early on in her career, Mihealsick began paying it back to her fellow teachers. She has mentored everyone from student teachers to team leads working on their National Board Certification. This year marks her 15th as a National Board Certified teacher, and not only does she grade AP essays in the summer for the College Board, but also she is a table leader at the College Board readings for AP exams.
“Mentoring has been a really important part of the job and is something I really enjoy,” Mihealsick says. “The ultimate goal is to help people be happy teaching and stay in the profession because our kids really need good teachers, especially now that there’s a lot of people leaving the profession.”
Analyzing the Data
But it hasn’t been all smooth sailing for Mihealsick. Mihealsick recalls struggling at several points in her career. In her first year at Westwood, she encountered a group of students and a curriculum that challenged her intellectually.
“I had to take my teaching game to the next level,” Mihealsick says. “The kids were so sharp, and I had to study all the time to stay ahead of them. My first year teaching AP Environmental Science was similar because the curriculum is college-level. I really had to learn to reapply myself since a good bit of that course material I didn’t study in college. So that was a really challenging year.”
Her first National Board Certification year presented its own unique challenges as well.
“When you go through National Board Certification, you take a fine-tooth comb through your teaching,” Mihealsick explains. “You videotape yourself, you analyze the video, and you really think hard about everything you are doing because it all has to tie directly back into the best way to deliver that content to your students.”
Mihealsick’s first year as department chair also sticks out in her mind as a time when she had to shift priorities and ask herself, “How do I help the adults in my building as well?” As a leader, it was her turn to help others solve problems in their classroom, and she met the challenge head on.
“I benefited so much from all of the support I received,” Mihealsick says. “I probably wouldn’t still be here if I didn’t have my book club mentors when I was just getting started. I want new teachers to feel like we’re here to support them, and we want them to reach out so we can help them stay sane and stay in the profession.”
Mihealsick’s message to new teachers is simple: You don’t have to be perfect your first year, and you aren’t going to be. Just focus on building relationships with your students and finding ways to get them engaged.
“I think that first-year teachers often just want to feel like they’re doing their job correctly and they don’t want to show any cracks in the façade,” Mihealsick says. “Don’t be afraid to reach out to your colleagues and lean on your support system. It’s OK to show that you’re having a hard time because people want to help you. People want to help you stay in the profession.”
Mihealsick’s heart goes out to the new teachers who struggle in the same ways she did. Even after 23 years, she still finds joy in connecting with her community, and she wants nothing more than to help cultivate that same passion in both her students and her fellow teachers.
Balancing the Equation
One of Mihealsick’s absolute favorite activities is taking her students on a field trip to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center once a year.
“We do a little activity with native plants, and I love seeing the kids out and about interacting with nature and engaging with the stuff they’ve learned,” Mihealsick says. “Budgets are certainly limited right now, so we don’t have a lot of money to travel. But I do make sure to take the kids outside to explore around our campus, and our field trip to the Wildflower Center is always a highlight of my year.”
Most students wouldn’t consider stoichiometry, the scientific process of figuring out how much of each substance is involved in a chemical reaction, to be a fun subject to study. But Mihealsick—channeling her high school chemistry teacher, Mr. Riddle—does her best to make the experience lively and memorable for her students, having the kids make s’mores and calculate the perfect ratio of chocolate, graham cracker, and marshmallows.
“You just have to find that hook that grabs their attention and reels them in,” Mihealsick says. “Nothing motivates them more to calculate the perfect s’more ratios than getting to turn on a Bunsen burner and make a tasty snack.”
Outside of the classroom, Mihealsick has developed a passion for advocacy on behalf of her fellow Texas educators. As a proud ATPE member for the last 21 years, she stays up to date with all the news from the Legislature by following both the ATPE News advocacy column and blog posts on the Teach the Vote website.
“I think that as teachers a lot of the time we’re so busy working in our classrooms that we hardly have time to adequately engage with lawmakers on issues that directly affect our profession,” Mihealsick says. “ATPE training teachers to speak at school board meetings and at the Legislature when they have public comment times is so important because that is one of the best ways we can make our voices heard and our messages resonate with lawmakers.”
The Next Frontier
As a product of public schools and a devoted educator her entire adult life, Mihealsick has seen the resources in Texas schools get stretched more and more in recent years, especially with cuts to budget and staffing.
“I’ve got classes of 34 students, and I’ve never been above 30,” Mihealsick says. “I’m not exactly sure what power the Teacher of the Year honor has afforded me, but I want to use this platform to, in one shape or form, work on trying to bring more resources to our schools and bring positive attention to the important work our teachers do for the over 5 million students in Texas public schools.”
Mihealsick says that teachers rarely get the praise they deserve, and she feels odd receiving all this recognition.
“As teachers, we’re kind of just used to the daily grind,” Mihealsick says. “People do sometimes thank us, and I do feel that I get plenty of validation from my students, parents, and our community. But there are 150 teachers in my school who are amazing educators, and I just want to share this honor with them.”
For Mihealsick, this award is much more than just another milestone in her professional career. She believes it is a unique opportunity to give back to both her community and the field of education.
“I’ve been thinking about what it means to be a Texas Teacher of the Year,” Mihealsick says. “And I have been asking myself, how I can use this to make things better for my students and my peers? How can I look to spread joy to my fellow educators and spark passion in my students? I think it starts with each of us.”