Students with classes on the third floor may have seen or met one of the school’s newest hires. Coming from Braswell High School, Yolanda Pimentel now teaches Algebra 2 and statistics. When Pimentel saw an open position for Melissa High School, she applied immediately and said that she couldn’t pass up the opportunity.

Pimentel is a mother, wife, educator, and a believer. She is coming up on her ninth year in education and is looking forward to a great year here. She has taught in many districts, including Dallas, Lewisville, Denton, and now Melissa. One reason she chose to teach here is to be more available for her family and her precious 3-year-old son Josiah.

This is Pimentel’s first year teaching statistics and though it was never in her plan, when the position was presented to her, she willingly took on the challenge.

“I’ve been enjoying teaching statistics very much this school year,” Pimentel said. “I’m actually like okay. See, God has a plan for everyone and I was hesitant at first to teach stats because I had never taught it before.”

She loves to cook meals for her family. She just bought a new air fryer and has been loving trying out new recipes.

“I live close by [the school], so I’m able to be home by a certain time, so I can cook dinner every night,” Pimentel said.

This teacher is a daily inspiration to her students. She regularly arrives early in the morning or stays late after school to ensure that her students are grasping the material to the best of their ability.

“I’m engaged during her class and understand what she is talking about,” junior Kimberly Hughes said. “She explains things really well and makes sure you get help when you need it.”

When Pimentel was in her first year of college, she was a pre-med student and was planning on becoming a doctor, but that all changed within the span of one day. During her freshman year in college, she was a math and science tutor at a middle school. After working on a project all week with a student, she went to turn it in with him and the teacher said, “This is not great work.” When Pimentel heard this, she was so shocked and could not believe a teacher would speak that way to a student.

“She just was so negative, and I literally wanted to cry,” Pimentel said. “So, I was like, I will never do that. Never. I remember the next morning, I went into the college of education and I was like I want to switch to the education program. I think that day was kind of like a solidification for me, like this is what I’m going to do.”

Pimentel has many plans for her future including having more children and growing her family. She is extremely interested in starting a drill team or step team to help raise our school spirit, hopefully, this year or next. When she heard that here MHS only has cheerleaders and no drill team, she was sad and knew immediately she wanted to change that.

“We see the other teams have them, but we don’t,” Pimentel said. “This is not what a school needs to have.”

Pimentel is very passionate about her job and the meaning behind why she chose it.

“I just love touching the lives of my students and making those connections and those relationships,” Pimentel said. “You know there is always a struggle with each different year, but overall, it has been a really great experience. I love my job. I love what I do, and I wouldn’t trade it for anything else. I wouldn’t want to be anything else.”