"I like to watch kids learn new things and be productive and find themselves and find what they like. I like to foster their curiosity and their wonder of the world. How they see things," explained Melissa Han, the current Junior High math teacher and floating substitute at Big Sandy High School. Melissa and her family moved to Big Sandy just before the start of the 2018 school year from their previous home in Brady, Montana, which is just south of Conrad. For the first two years of the family's time in Big Sandy, Melissa was the principal at Rocky Boy schools for 7th through 12th grade. After leaving Rocky Boy, she is teaching the students of Big Sandy.
Melissa has been a teacher since 1998 after attending Northern and Eastern to earn her teaching degree. She decided to become a teacher while still in High School after an experience as a mentor to a younger student. "She was struggling really bad in science. So I was tutoring her in science. She kept improving and improving and that made me feel good that she was doing well and improving. That was just something I fell in love with. I said 'That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to be a Spanish and PE teacher.'" She has taught both during her career.
Her love of Spanish started after her family hosted an exchange student, who Melissa befriended. She traveled to the student's home country and stayed there for 20 days. During her visit, the exchange student stopped translating for her. She resolved to never be in a position again where she couldn't communicate effectively with the people around her. When she returned home, Melissa set out to learn Spanish and fell in love with the language. "I love it, and I enjoy it so I love teaching it."
Her love for teaching Spanish has grown into a significant part of her career. "I began teaching 7th and 8th grade everything. Then, I moved to a little bit bigger school and started teaching Spanish, 6 to 12, and health in the middle school. Then I took students to Spain... I started that when I was teaching in Conrad. Students would take 2 years of Spanish, and then I'd help them fundraise and we'd go to Spain for 10 days." In total she's been to Spain 10 times, all with students. Never alone. "When I went to Alaska, we got that started. I got to take Inupiaq Eskimos. That was pretty cool."
Melissa taught in Alaska bush schools for five years before meeting her husband in Conrad while visiting home on Christmas break one year. The relationship prompted her return to Montana and marriage. Melissa and Jake have been married for 13 years and have 2 children. Mackenna is 7 and Colter is 10, soon to be 11. Jake commutes to the farm, east of Conrad, and the family works the farm during the summer.
Though she set out to be a PE and Spanish teacher, she explains that "My dream job would be to be a principal of a Junior High. That would be my ultimate dream job. But in Montana with the small schools, it's probably not going happen. So, principal of a K-12 Class B or Class C." She has earned two masters degrees in her efforts to be a better teacher, and eventually, a principal. She earned a masters in curriculum design from the University of Phoenix and a Masters in Educational Leadership from MSU Bozeman. "Well, I'd like to be in administration again, but we really enjoy Big Sandy and the Big Sandy School district for our kids. We want to stick around here because it's a strong system for education for our own children. So, if I could pull off an administrative job somewhere close that would be great. If not, I will just stay right here with Big Sandy."
For fun, Melissa coached volleyball for 10 years, until she had her own kids and no longer had time for it. She moved to refereeing and is currently a member of the MOA (Montana Officials Association). "I'm out of the North Central Montana Pool. I could switch my pool, but I haven't yet because we didn't know how long this gig would last. But we just really like Big Sandy, and we like the school system, so we kinda want to keep our kids here."
She also loves snowmobiling and enjoys hunting. She is planning to take her kids backpacking on horseback into the Bob Marshall Wilderness this summer, recreating the 10-day trips she used to take as a child. "I'm a doer. I push papers in the winter, and I do in the summer," Melissa joked about her summer activities. In addition to outdoor hobbies, she spends most of the summer months farming. "Farming takes a lot of time. I go out and run the machines with my husband. He fixes, and I drive."
