It is the year 2000, and sophomore Melissa Pancoast looks around the uncharted territory of the Coppell High School cafeteria hoping to find a group of people to sit with. Today, Pancoast stands in front of room D104 as a guiding light to students in the same school she once was.
Pancoast’s journey from a 2002 CHS graduate to a Basic English teacher was not planned. After earning her business degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, she took time off to take care of family. However, her interest in education was ignited from her neighbor, Angela Holcome.
“My neighbor had just started working at [Lewisville ISD],” Pancoast said. “Two months later, she came up to me and said, ‘You’d like this.’ She was right, I loved it.”
Pancoast served as a paraprofessional in the LISD special education department. She worked with students ages 18 and older, guiding them through everything from traveling to community service and even filling out job applications. As a paraprofessional, Pancoast valued spending time with her students and building relationships with them.
“It’s more one-on-one a lot of the time,” Pancoast said. “Of course, we’re in a class together, but I get more time dedicated to each student, so when I find something they like to do, find something we have in common, to show that I care about them.”
In 2021, Pancoast returned to her alma mater, but this time as an in-support teacher. Pancoast taught alongside other English teachers and individually worked with students in the special education department. The hard work, dedication and proactiveness Pancoast exhibits does not go unnoticed by her colleagues.
“If she sees a student that might be struggling, like having excessive absences,” special education department chair Laura Hyson said. “Instead of complaining she investigates, talks to the students and talks to family to see what she can help out with.”
After two years of working as an in-support teacher, Pancoast stepped into her own classroom as a Basic English teacher.
“She celebrates the students’ success, instead of her taking the credit,” Hyson said. “She goes home thinking about things her students achieved instead of her own.”
The techniques Pancoast applies in her own classroom and the environment she strives to create, are rooted from her own childhood experiences in school.
“Looking back, my elementary years are where I felt safe,” Pancoast said. “Middle school and high school were kind of tough for me because I moved a lot, but I remember elementary feeling safe in the class and welcomed, especially having the same teacher everyday.”
It was not an easy route for Pancoast to earn her own classroom.
“She’s passionate, I knew she wanted to earn her own classroom and she did exactly that with hard work,” Hyson said. “She wanted to learn and get feedback from her work and learn from any mistakes, which were hardly any.”
Today, her commitment toward her students remains strong. Whether it is greeting her students by name, starting conversations or playing board games in her class, these habits establish trust and relationships.
“She’s nice, she’s generous and thoughtful. She’s a great teacher,” senior Davis Butts said. “She likes to say ‘hi’ to me every time she sees me. I also get to talk to her about my weekends when I visit her before school.”
Pancoast has come full circle, from a student trying to find her place and build a sense of belonging, to a teacher helping others discover theirs.
“I am so proud to be a graduate from CHS and to be able to come back here and teach is awesome,” Pancoast said. “I never thought I would get a chance, but I am glad to have this opportunity.”
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