Comsewogue teacher Melissa McMullan competing to be 'America's Favorite Teacher'

When Comsewogue sixth-grade teacher Melissa McMullan was 13 years old, she declared her life’s mission in her diary.

Inspired by her volunteer work at a local nursing home, she said, "I wanted a life that was rooted in service."

McMullan, who has taught at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Port Jefferson Station for 24 years, is being recognized for that dedication. She is currently in the quarterfinals of the America’s Favorite Teacher competition, a national contest that honors educators around the country.

The competition started in March with 1,000 teachers. McMullan, 54, of Port Jefferson, said she had ascended to the top 64 of contestants.

Scott Honig, a teacher at Great Neck South Middle School, is also competing in the quarterfinals. He was 14th in his group as of Thursday morning.

McMullan must be in first place in her group of 16 by 10 p.m. Thursday to move forward to the semifinals. As of Wednesday afternoon, she was the top vote-getter.

The winner, to be announced in June, will receive $25,000 and a trip to Hawaii, and appear in Reader’s Digest. The teacher’s school will also earn a school assembly with television presenter and science advocate Bill Nye.

McMullan said she is letting her students choose the nonprofits to donate the prize money to if she wins.

"It's really not about me," McMullan said of the contest. "It's about what you can build with your community, and the way to teach kids about the community they're in."

'An amazing teacher'

McMullan, who teaches social studies, ELA and reading, told Newsday she strives to cultivate an environment of openness through a daily discussion about current events and by actively listening to her students.

McMullan also conducts service projects throughout the school year with her students.

Over the course of her career, McMullan said her students have written books with special needs students, created a pen pal program with people experiencing homelessness and collected books for soup kitchens.

Following a devastating earthquake in Haiti in 2010, McMullan and her students partnered with pilot Jonathan Nash Glynn, founder of Wings Over Haiti, and guidance counselor Chad St. Louis to open a school in the country.

The school now educates more than 180 students from nursery to 7th grade, according to the Wings Over Haiti web site.

"She’ll let us get hands-on and stuff," student Ben Torres, 12, said. "It makes it like a very special experience."

Since the contest began, McMullan's students have been inspired to help her win.

Torres and his friend Dylan Cruz, 11, biked around their neighborhood to put flyers in mailboxes advertising the competition. And Isabelle ‘Izzy’ Coelho, 12, put QR codes with the link to the voting website on buttons and on lanyards and spoke about the contest at her Girl Scout meetings.

"She's just an amazing teacher," Coelho said. "We need everybody to kind of come together to get this done for our whole community."

McMullan's students have also reached out to numerous nonprofits to decide which should get the prize money.

In what McMullan described as a full circle moment, she said all of the organizations chosen — including Strong Island Animal Rescue League, Angela’s House and RISE Life Services — were represented by a former student.

"Two decades ago they were in my class, and now they are handling the marketing or the fundraising for a nonprofit because of the service work they did in my class," she said. "It's incredible."

To vote for McMullan, visit americasfavteacher.org/2026/melissa-mcmullan.

A second Long Island teacher, Scott Honig, is also in the quarterfinals of the America's Favorite Teacher competition. The information was incorrect in an earlier version of this story.