Rockwood Milken Educators Help Design, Present Awards and Training for New Teachers

Rockwood School District Coordinator of Social Studies 6-12 Dr. Jordan McGaughey and Crestview Middle eighth-grade history teacher Meghan Menchella played key roles in developing and presenting an awards program and professional learning opportunity for new state educators.

McGaughey and Menchella are both Missouri Milken Educators, recognized for their impressive achievements and the promise of what they will accomplish in the future. The Missouri branch of the national Milken Foundation created a recognition program for new teachers called the Missouri Teacher Leader of Tomorrow (MTLT) award, which celebrates promising pre-service teachers enrolled in Missouri's educator preparation programs.

This year’s 10 recipients were honored by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) with a State Board of Education proclamation June 3, then had the opportunity to receive a day of professional learning built by Missouri Milken Educators.

McGaughey and Menchella were among the small group of educators from around the state who developed and presented the training.

“It was a lot of fun because everything we planned, we were thinking about what is best for the new teachers in the room: what support would they need and what you need to hear at that point in your career,” Menchella said. “Jordan and I work really well together, so it was nice having someone to bounce ideas off of from start to finish. And to tag-team when we’re presenting is really helpful.”

One of this year’s MTLT recipients – Maura Ploesser from Truman State University – served as a student-teacher at Kellison Elementary this past school year and has been hired as a special education teacher at Stanton Elementary for 2025-2026.

McGaughey and Menchella were both part of Ploesser’s surprise award presentation at Truman in April, and they had further opportunities to interact with her and welcome her to Rockwood at the June training in Jefferson City.

“A big thing we talked about with all the new teachers was finding ways to continue developing yourself as an educator without losing sight of the fact that self-care is very important,” McGaughey said. “Finding ways to refill your bucket and re-energize yourself will only make you a better educator. We also worked with teachers a lot on why they chose education: why did you become a teacher, what are some potential challenges you run into and how do you navigate them over your first couple of years, which are some of your most formative. It was a great day.”

This year the Missouri Milken Educators will be providing mentorship opportunities throughout the school year as the MTLTs begin their teaching careers.

Ploesser, for one, doesn’t have very far to look to find a Milken educator in Rockwood.

“We have something that not a lot of other people on our state committee have,” McGaughey said. “We’re Milken Educators, and we also have (language arts teacher) Andy Gensler at Eureka High. We’re pretty fortunate at Rockwood with the representation we have.”