Michelle Towery selected as Stockton’s 2025 Kansas Secondary Teacher of the Year

Stockton High School’s social sciences teacher, Michelle Towery, has been selected as the school’s 2025 Kansas Secondary Teacher of the Year. She was celebrated, along with the rest of the nominees, in Salina on Saturday, April 6th, at the Region 1 Banquet.

Towery attended Fort Hays State University and received her Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education degree in 2012. She recently obtained a Master of Science in Curriculum and Instruction degree in the spring of 2023 from Emporia State University and a Master of Science in Educational Administration degree this past fall.

Towery, who has been a teacher at SHS for the past eight years, currently teaches grades nine through twelve, covering a variety of classes, including World History, American History, U.S. Government, World Geography, Current Events, and Economics.

Towery inspires students to understand and appreciate rights, privileges, and civic duties through diversified means of learning. She centers lessons on developing critical thinking, problem- solving skills, and hands-on activities. She also exposes students to educational opportunities with field trips and local community involvement.

Towery’s leadership roles in the school involve being part of the District Leadership Team, Curriculum Council, Profession-al Development Council, and the Building Leadership Team, where she can help contribute to future school improvements and student growth.

Nominees for Kansas Teacher of the Year are selected from four regions in Kansas. Stockton is located in Region 1, the largest in the state. Teachers are nominated through their districts. Stockton sent out a survey to all teachers for nominations for the award, and then administrators made the final selection. Stockton usually selects one elementary and one secondary teacher. The nominee(s) then fill out forms explaining their career history, educational philosophy, classroom activity, and goals. The forms are then reviewed by a selected team from KSDE (Kansas State Department of Education). The team narrows down the list to semi-finalists and finalists. The nominees go on to participate in a banquet to honor them, and this is also where the semi-finalists and finalists are named—one elementary and one secondary teacher. Those who are the finalists will participate in another banquet in the fall. Whoever is selected from the final list from all four regions will be named Kansas Teacher of the Year 2025.

Though Towery was not selected as a finalist for Region 1, she, along with all of the other nominated teachers, will participate in a Leadership Conference where they will be placed into teams. The teams will then travel to each other’s districts throughout the coming school year to learn about each other’s classroom, school, and district.