Mingus teacher recognized for 'heart'

By Philip Wright, Staff Reporter, Red Rock News

"Andrea has the heart of a teacher," Sharyl Allen, Mingus Union superintendent, said about Andrea Meyer when she nominated her for the Pride Day education award. Meyer had a student who was struggling in English at MUHS. Without the language skills, the girl would not graduate. Meyer did not want that to happen. No one knew except Meyer and the girl and her family, but the Mingus English teacher went to the student's home every evening for months. It paid off.

"She graduated and is doing beautifully at Yavapai College," Meyer said. "She sees herself as a person who can use the writing for self expression." Meyer said she often spends more time tutoring students than what shows up on her tutoring sheets. She said it thrills her to see a student overcome a poor self-image.

She has taught for 24 years and can't seem to imagine herself doing anything else. But it wasn't a career she picked as a child. "It hit me the second semester of my junior year at the U of A," Meyer said. She was a ranked tennis player and knew she wanted to coach tennis but wasn't interested in being a physical education teacher. At the last moment before she had to declare a major, a mentor at the university showed her how that could happen if she became both a teacher and coach.

That's what she did. She earned both a bachelor's and master's in education and picked up a minor in athletic coaching. She started teaching at Bowie High School, a school with 37 students total.

"It was a great education," Meyer said, "because I learned to drive a bus." She also taught English and coached four sports. In addition, she taught drama and speech and was the yearbook advisor. After a year at Bowie, Meyer started at MUHS in 1987 as English teacher and coach of the girls tennis team. She's still teaching English, and is the department chair, but she gave up coaching tennis after six years. Meyer said it wasn't such a cultural shock coming from a tiny school to Mingus. "It was gratifying to see the level of parent involvement and the politeness of the students," she said. "I was immediately happy."

She is very proud of the English department at MUHS. "It is a fabulous department," she said. "They talk to each other and they energize each other." She said the 13-teacher department always works to find solutions to problems. "I'm glad to be a part of them." A past president of the Mingus Union Education Association, a teachers' union, Meyer is an active member of the Interest Based Negotiations Committee. She said the IBN negotiates for salaries and other things. "It's not a positional thing," she said. The interests of all parties are brought to the negotiating table. Meyer said she is still crazy about teaching, although she admits the workload is often overwhelming for teacher. "It never get old," she said. "It never fades for me."