Sikeston R-6 teacher is MSTA president-elect

Pam Lowe

SIKESTON — Pam Lowe, preschool teacher at Sikeston Kindergarten and Early Childhood Education Center, has been teaching at Sikeston Public Schools for many years. She has not only represented her school district but also the Bootheel through the Missouri School Teachers Association.

Lowe is the president-elect of MSTA and will take office as president in November. She expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to represent Sikeston schools at the state level.

“I feel very honored to be able to represent Sikeston schools at this level,” Lowe said. “One year, one of my dear colleagues, Mark Savage, said he didn’t think people realized the magnitude of what this meant for our district, and until you have been to a state convention, it is hard to realize what a true honor this is to be elected by your peers. I hope that I am able to shine a light on all the wonderful things about our school district and what an amazing groups of teachers and support staff we have here in our community.”

Lowe said her Sikeston R-6 Superintendent Shannon Holifield and Kindergarten Center Principals Jenny Hobeck and Sarah Carbaugh have been very supportive and encouraging to her every step of the way.

“I have heard of past presidents who were not treated very well by their administration because of the commitment that this entails and I am very blessed that I feel 100% supported,” she said.

Lowe said she is the fourth person from the Southeast Missouri region to have served on the MSTA board with the most recent being Halley Russell of Jackson, Missouri, who is currently the assistant principal at Cape Central Junior High School. According to Lowe, Russell one of the people who influenced her decision to run.

“On a regional level, I am so excited that I can promote Southeast Missouri to other areas of the state and let them know that we have amazing educators down in the Bootheel of the state,” Lowe said.

A member of MSTA for 26 years, Lowe said she joined MSTA the year she started teaching, which was in 1997, because of liability insurance.

“It was just something I was told going through college at SEMO that was an important thing to join to have the protection,” she recalled.

Lynn Twitty was the last Sikeston R-6 teacher to serve as MSTA president in 1953, making Lowe the first Sikeston teacher to be elected president in a long time.

Lowes’ involvement with the MSTA State Board began in 2015, when she was asked to fill a vacancy on the board for the Southeast region. She served that term and then two additional three-year terms after that, having been elected by the Southeast region’s delegates. However, Lowe said it was not until the end of her last term that she thought about running for office.

“I had never really given it any thought, but once the seed was planted in my brain, I really started praying about it and talked to my husband about it and the commitment it would entail,” Lowe said. “I decided that it was something that I wanted to at least try and with the support of my school district and family, I began my journey.”

When Lowe officially becomes president in November, she will be traveling the state, advocating public education at different area events and speaking with legislators about education concerns.

“Teachers have a difficult job, and we aren’t very good at promoting ourselves, so I am really excited about getting the opportunity to travel the state to tell others how wonderful public school educators in our state are,” Lowe said.

As president-elect, Lowe said one of her obligations is to go to Columbia five times a year for state board meetings. Lowe assists with the running of the association’s operations and visits their state leadership conference in the summer, as well as Capitol Day, to meet with legislators and encourage them to vote in favor of public school-friendly education bills.

Lowe said she will be the fifth person from the Southeast area to serve as state president and she thinks that speaks a great deal.

“I think that speaks volumes for our region,” Lowe said. “For some reason, the central and southwest regions of the state seem to have the most state presidents. I think sometimes people from our region just don’t think we can compete with the ‘big cities’ and are afraid to put ourselves out there to try.

Lowe continued: “I hope that I can encourage other teachers in our region to be willing to put themselves out there to help improve and promote public education and the amazing teachers and support staff that live in Southeast Missouri.”