Who is Melinda Hamann? She is an East High School science teacher, a wife, a mother to three children.
Hamann has a husband who also works at East High School. She has two sons and a daughter, ages five eight and 12. She is a chemistry teacher because she believes it’s a subject that is abstract but makes sense. She has a love for both science and math, so chemistry is a great fit for Hamann. She also has a degree in scientific illustration. She went to Iowa State University because it is one of the few collages in the country that offers scientific illustration.
“Mrs. Hamann is a creative and hardworking individual,” said Riana Rice one of her students this year.
“She’s so fun and I look forward to her class everyday”, says student Christina Tillotson.
When asked about how she feels about students really liking her but not her class this is what Hamann said “I wish they liked Chemistry more, but I understand why they don’t. It’s hard work, I try and make it as fun as I can and hope people as we get through it, they find something in chemistry they love”.
Hamann believes having a good relationship with her students is very important and getting to know them. She also believes it is good to know what is going on with them. “You don’t have a good day every day and kids don’t have a good day every day and everyone brings their own baggage”, she said while talking about treating student with respect and understanding them. “She cares deeply for her students and it’s very obvious”, said Rice.
When she is outside of school, she spends most of her time with her children but when she has time to herself she likes to read. She also does a lot drawing and painting, during the summer she does murals.
“The kids here are like the kids everywhere” Hamann said while talking about why she picked East and why she love East. She also went on to talk about how the kids at East need teachers who care and want them to do well. She knows that East is said to be a bad school and she doesn’t understand why people think that why because she knows the students are great
“She was one of my favorite teachers to have, because she was everything a teacher should be”, former student of hers Garrett Krumrey said.