TASA Names 2025 Texas Teachers of the Year

TASA, which facilitates the Texas Teacher of the Year program, has named Texas' top teachers for 2025.

Kristi Leff, a fifth-grade science and English/language arts teacher at Humphrey's Highland Elementary in Amarillo ISD, was named the 2025 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year. Christine Mihealsick, an Advanced Placement environmental science teacher at Westwood High School in Round Rock ISD, was named the 2025 Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year. Mihealsick was chosen to represent the state as Texas Teacher of the Year in the National Teacher of the Year competition, making her official title Texas Teacher of the Year.

The announcements were made during an awards ceremony in Round Rock, Texas, October 25. (Photos will be uploaded here: https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjBP23h). Both state-level winners will receive a cash award and a commemorative trophy.

Also honored during the luncheon were the Regional Teachers of the Year and the finalists for Texas Teacher of the Year: Kevin Criss, Cambridge Elementary School, Alamo Heights ISD; JoMeka Gray, Kennedy-Powell Elementary School, Temple ISD; Darla Morrow, James R. Brooks Middle School, Greenwood ISD; and Melissa Farias Zúñiga, New Braunfels High School, New Braunfels ISD.

"I congratulate Christine and Kristi on this achievement. Texas Teacher of the Year is the highest honor our state bestows upon its teachers," said Kevin Brown, executive director of TASA. "They have distinguished themselves among thousands of outstanding, dedicated teachers across our state and nation have who have answered the call to serve others."

2025 Texas Teacher of the Year

Christine Mihealsick, Westwood High School, Round Rock ISD

Christine Mihealsick teaches Advanced Placement (AP) environmental science and serves as the science department chair at Westwood High School in Round Rock ISD. Going back to 2007, she has also taught environmental systems, chemistry, anatomy, and biology on that campus. From 2002 to 2007, she taught chemistry and biology at Crockett High School in Austin ISD. "As a teacher I'm an inherent optimist in the potential of humanity," she says. "I believe I can help everyone who walks through my door improve - in their science lab skills, in their writing skills, in their peer collaboration abilities, in their confidence in themselves to do challenging advanced science coursework." Mihealsick holds a BS in biology and a master's degree in science education from The University of Texas at Austin. She is certified to teach all science subjects in grades 6-12 and holds National Board Certification for Adolescent/Young Adult Science. She has been selected for a Fulbright teacher exchange program to Japan, the Toyota International Teacher Program to Costa Rica, and the Northrop Grumman Ecoclassroom teacher for tropical research. See a video about Mihealsick.

2025 Texas Elementary Teacher of the Year

Kristi Leff, Humphrey's Highland Elementary School, Amarillo ISD

Kristi Leff is a fifth-grade science and English/language arts teacher at Humphrey's Highland Elementary in Amarillo, where she has taught since 2015. She has also taught in Florida and in Calallen and Mathis ISDs in South Texas during her 21-year career. Leff has been named Campus Teacher of the Year several times, at Magee Intermediate in Calallen in 2009, at Springhead Elementary in Plant City, Florida, in 2014, and at Humphrey's Highland in 2024. "I walk into my classroom every day not as a teacher where my job is to fill my students with the content entrusted to me by the state of Texas, but as an educational guide that facilitates their acquisition of self-confidence, self-worth, and an independent drive to be the very best version of themselves long after they leave the education system," she says. Leff holds an associate degree in education from Brevard Community College, a BA in elementary education from Rollins College, and a master's degree in special education from Lamar University. She is certified in gifted and talented instruction, English as a Second Language (ESL), and as an educational diagnostician. See a video about Leff.

Texas Teacher of the Year Program

To achieve recognition as Texas Elementary or Secondary Teacher of the Year, a teacher must first be chosen as a campus and district teacher of the year, then a regional honoree. From the group of 40 regional teachers of the year, six finalists are chosen and interviewed by an independent panel of judges composed of representatives of education associations, community and business leaders, a member of the State Board for Educator Certification, a member of the State Board of Education, and prior Texas Teachers of the Year.

The state's top elementary and secondary teachers are selected from these six finalists, and the Texas nominee for National Teacher of the Year is chosen from the top two winners. In 2015, Texas Teacher of the Year Shanna Peeples of Amarillo ISD was the second Texas teacher to be named the National Teacher of the Year.

The Texas Teacher of the Year program has honored excellence in classroom education since 1969 and continues to annually recognize and reward teachers who have demonstrated outstanding leadership and excellence in teaching.

The program operates with financial support and in-kind contributions from the following:

Premier Sponsors

H-E-B
TASA

Platinum Sponsor

Texas Association of School Boards (TASB)

Gold Sponsors

Gulf Coast Educators Federal Credit Union
Imagine Learning

Silver Sponsors

Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)
Texas AFT
Texas Association of Secondary School Principals (TASSP)
Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA)
Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association (TEPSA)
Texas PTA
Texas School Public Relations Association (TSPRA)
Texas State Teachers Association (TSTA)

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