Mikal-Ann “Mikey” Milam, a Special Education English Resource teacher at Burnet High School. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman
Mikal-Ann “Mikey” Milam is the Special Education English Resource teacher at Burnet High School. This year, she is also the yearbook teacher. She was voted Favorite Teacher by The Picayune Magazine readers and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners in the 2024 Locals Love Us contest.
“This is a great surprise,” Milam said when she was told of the honor. “Teaching is a hard industry to be in, so sometimes you can get discouraged. When you get something like this, it reminds you why you’re doing what you’re doing: Someone is acknowledging all the hard work you put in is worth it.”
Milam and her husband, Josh, moved to Burnet 21 years ago — he from Liberty Hill, she from Round Rock via Seattle, Washington. They have two children, a son who is a junior in high school and a daughter in the eighth grade. Milam worked as an aide at Burnet Elementary School for three years before taking off nine years to raise her children.
“As soon as my youngest was in kindergarten, I went back to work,” she said.
As the English Resource teacher for all four grades in special ed, Milam gets to know her students well.
“I have them from the time they enter high school to when they graduate,” she said. “I get to know them, their skill levels, and their needs. Our classes are not over 12 kids, so we get to know each other and build relationships.”
She likens her yearbook class to running a small business.
“We are building a whole book from blank pages to finish,” she said. “And this year, only three of the 22 students have been in yearbook before. It’s been a big learning curve.”
Since it’s also her first year of teaching yearbook, she’s learning right along with them.
“We’ve gotten a lot done already,” she said. “It’s a lot of work, a lot of organizing, but it’s been exciting.”
Almost as exciting as winning Locals Love Us? Nah!
