A Sioux Central Community School District agriculture teacher has been named the 2025 Iowa Teacher of the Year.
Melanie Bloom, who has taught for 16 years, was honored during a ceremony Monday at the district attended by Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Department of Education Director McKenzie Snow.
“The Teacher of the Year award recognizes exceptional teachers who demonstrate excellence in the classroom and who have made a significant impact on student outcomes and their fellow educators,” an Iowa Department of Education news release said.
Bloom will serve as a statewide ambassador to schools, higher education and communities for the next year. The program is sponsored by the department.
Bloom was one of nine finalists named last month as Iowa’s first-ever Regional Teachers of Year, the release said. She was the Prairie Lakes region’s honoree.
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Bloom succeeds 2024 Iowa Teacher of the Year Ann Mincks, a Des Moines Public Schools teacher.
“Learning from Melanie Bloom means something more than just reading from textbooks or preparing for tests,” Reynolds said in the news release. “It involves experiencing a field not only of study but also of building and doing — and that means preparing for life. This is what teaching looks like at its very best, and it’s no wonder Melanie is the first CTE (career and technical education) and agriculture educator in many years to become Iowa’s Teacher of the Year.”
The Iowa native, farmer and agriculture educator started Sioux Central’s “first full-time agriculture program and serves as the FFA advisor,” the release states.
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“I think students need to be exposed to as many different careers of interest as early as they can,” Bloom said in the release. “My job is to find and connect to opportunities and then prepare my students to take advantage of those opportunities.”
Bloom is working toward a Ph.D. in agriculture education, and “has served as beginning teacher mentor and faculty member in an Iowa teacher preparation program,” according to the release.
“Iowa’s amazing teachers, like Melanie Bloom, provide students with what they need to meet high expectations and realize their incredible potential,” Snow said. “Melanie creates a classroom community where students are deeply engaged in what they are learning and why it matters.”
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2025 Teacher of the Year finalists
Last month the state honored eight additional teachers as Regional Teachers of the Year and finalists for Iowa Teacher of the Year:
- Kevin Gartman, Montezuma Community School District junior high and high school business teacher, Central Rivers Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Susie Stark, Cedar Rapids Community School District elementary teacher, Grant Wood Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Samantha Freeman, Mount Pleasant Community School District K-5 talented and gifted coordinator, Great Prairie Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Sarah Stephens, Creston Community School District elementary special education teacher, Green Hills Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Blake Hammond, Des Moines Public Schools middle school science teacher, Heartland Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Alyssa Dalsing, Western Dubuque Community School District elementary teacher, Keystone Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Kaitlin Mahoney, Bettendorf Community School District high school math teacher, Mississippi Bend Regional Teacher of the Year.
- Beth Oolman, MOC-Floyd Valley Community School District middle school English language arts teacher, Northwest Regional Teacher of the Year.
Samantha Hernandez covers education for the Register. Reach her at (515) 851-0982 or svhernandez@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @svhernandez or Facebook at facebook.com/svhernandezreporter.