SDSU alum named S.D. Teacher of the Year

Growing up in Parkston, Amy Verhelst acknowledges she wasn’t the best learner. But the teachers in her community inspired her at a young age to pursue a career in education and impact the next generation of students. 

Verhelst, a 2013 early childhood education graduate from South Dakota State University and current Sioux Valley Elementary kindergarten teacher in Volga, was recognized as the 2025 South Dakota Teacher of the Year in September. 

She has also taught in the Brandon Valley School District and in Brownsburg, Indiana. She has been at Sioux Valley Elementary since 2018. 

“The kids are the best,” she said. “I come to school every day because of them, and when we're in our element and in our classroom, magic happens, and we just have so much fun. We get to learn, play and support each other and celebrate the growth that we make. Every day is something different.” 

She is always looking for an opportunity to improve her practice and what she is doing in the classroom. It’s the students’ progress that keeps her motivated. 

“Being able to celebrate each goal and milestone that they make and being a part of that, it's definitely what fills my cup, and it brings me back to school every day,” Verhelst said. 

While she knows she’s making an impact on the students in her classroom, something she didn’t expect was how much the students would impact her. 

“I never thought I would learn as much from them as they were supposed to learn from me,” she said. 

“Amy is the kind of kindergarten teacher every parent wants their child to have,” South Dakota Secretary of Education Graves said in announcing Verhelst’s award last month. “Her classroom is full of kindness and optimism. She operates with a steady hand that sets her students up to succeed in school for years to come. Her commitment to and competence with the Science of Reading practices was evident from the first moment we walked into her classroom.” 

Verhelst is committed to reading instruction using the Science of Reading; every day, her class receives instruction in phonics and phonemic awareness, which helps her students develop into readers before they complete kindergarten. 

Being awarded the South Dakota Teacher of the Year reaffirms the hard work Verhelst has put into her classroom and her students’ education. While she is honored with the award, she says it reflects the work of many in Volga and a supportive community.  

“We have worked really hard to change and update and do what's best for our kids,” Verhelst said. “I wouldn't be where I am if I didn't have my teammates and if I didn't have my school district, if I didn't have my family and all these people to support me.” 

Verhelst started at South Dakota State University as a family and consumer sciences major but switched to early childhood education when she realized she wanted to teach younger kids. 

“That's really where my heart is,” she said. “The faculty and the support at SDSU, I mean, they love early childhood education, and they really instilled that passion and the drive of why it's so important to get that early foundation built for our kids.” 

One of her favorite campus experiences was working in the preschool lab as it provided the first feeling of being a teacher and seeing the growth in kids. She did a one-year stint as an SDSU cheerleader. 

As part of her Teacher of the Year status, Verhelst will speak on college campuses and share her insights into the profession with current students. She says students currently in education programs have a “leg up” in teaching because of new research and practices in teaching kids how to read. 

As South Dakota Teacher of the Year, Verhelst receives prizes including a $5,000 grant from the West River Foundation to use as she wishes, and a $2,000 honorarium from the South Dakota Board of Regents to present a series of professional development seminars to aspiring teachers. She will also have the opportunity to earn a master’s degree at no cost from the South Dakota Board of Regents. 

Additional prizes are made possible through the generosity of the South Dakota Retailers Association and the South Dakota Education Association. 

Verhelst will represent South Dakota as a candidate for the 2025 National Teacher of the Year award. The winner will be announced during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., next spring. The National Teacher of the Year Program began in 1952 and continues as the oldest, most prestigious national honors program that focuses public attention on excellence in teaching.