(Editor's note: Assistant Superintendent Terri White and Teacher Patrice Christian have also retired and stories about the educators will be featured in upcoming editions.)
Taking pride in being a Dublin Lion is something Pre-K teacher Melanie Truesdell has always embraced. After working at DISD for 29 years, Truesdell ended the 2023-24 school year with retirement.
“Melanie Truesdell is one of the most outstanding Pre-K teachers that I have known and she has effectively loved, nurtured and educated numerous children during her time at Dublin ISD,” Dublin Superintendent Melissa Summers said.
Truesdell got her start in education when she graduated from Tarleton State University in 1994 with an education degree in interdisciplinary studies (now early elementary education).
As part of her education requirement, she completed her student teaching in Dublin’s Pre-K department and loved it .
When Pre-K teacher Maria Rodriguez went to step down, Mrs. Crouch the principal at the time would not let her go unless she had a replacement. Rodriguez recommended Truesdell and in the fall, she stepped into the role where she would be for her entire teaching career (other than teaching kindergarten and first grade for a few years). She was hired by Superintendent Roy Neff and Principal Crouch.
“I love it. That’s where my heart is,” Truesdell said.
Dublin was hometown for Truesdell’s parents and they retired nearby.
“They just never left. It is home,” she said.
Truesdell has enjoyed being not only surrounded by her family but also the relationship she has built over 29 years with her work family, enjoying a good working relationship with her peers and with administration.
“There never was ‘bigger’ or ‘better’ to me. Dublin was my place. I just felt like that’s where I belonged,” she said.
One of the traditions the educator is most known for is the Pre-K Rodeo, though Truesdell said she did not start it, but rather continued it.
“We started inviting parents to it and it just grew,” she said. “It turned into a family project as the kids made their stick horses.”
Over the years, she has seen so many fun and creative stick horses and enjoys the experience of the Pre-K rodeo partnering with the Texas unit.
“The kids absolutely love it,” she said.
Truesdell said she would often have parents say they couldn’t attend Christmas programs and she would emphasize that it was OK, as long as they didn’t miss Pre-K Rodeo.
“It is so much fun,” she said.
Looking back through a Rolodex of memories, the educator said there are too many treasured moments to name, but they all revolve around her students.
“The things that the kids would tell me, every single day, would make me laugh,” she said. “Those are the things I take with me. I will miss the kids the most.”
In her retirement, she plans on spending time with her family including her husband Shannon and daughter and son-in-law Hannah and Merit Holstein. She also has plans to travel and help out her husband.
“There was something every single day that filled my heart and made me laugh,” she said. “I will never forget Dublin ISD.”