Tonight, one Miami-Dade County educator will be named the district鈥檚 Teacher of the Year. The annual recognition comes with bragging rights and a new car 鈥� and it highlights the best of the best in the country鈥檚 third-largest school district.
The nominees to be Miami-Dade County Public Schools鈥� 2025 Teacher of the Year and the regions they represent are:
- North Region 鈥� Melissa Abril-Dotel, North Beach Elementary School
- Central Region 鈥� Nicolas Acosta, Miami Springs Senior High School
- South Region 鈥� Alina Hughes Robinson, Robert Morgan Educational Center
- Adult/Technical Colleges and Educational Opportunity & Access 鈥� William Torres, Robert Morgan Educational Center & Technical College
Tuesday night鈥檚 award ceremony is the culmination of a months-long process and it鈥檚 a moment some teachers have been working towards for years 鈥� or even decades.
First, teachers get nominated by their school. Then they submit lengthy applications, plus a lesson plan and a video of themselves in action in the classroom. And a coalition of educators and officials from across the county pick finalists.
The winner will be announced Tuesday evening at a ceremony beginning at 6:30 p.m. at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Miami Airport & Convention Center.
Melissa Abril-Dotel
Watching Melissa Abril-Dotel at work is like watching a master conductor 鈥� when everyone in the orchestra knows their part.
鈥淥k good morning boys and girls!鈥� Dotel greeted her second graders on a recent morning at North Beach Elementary School.
鈥淕ood morning Ms. Dotel!鈥� they replied.
鈥淩eady to listen?鈥� she asked.
鈥淩eady to learn!鈥� the class cried.
鈥淩eady to Listen, Ready to Learn鈥� is one of the mantras in Dotel's classroom. She鈥檚 been teaching for 18 years and says that she and her students kind of have their own language 鈥� complete with little catchphrases and hand signals.
鈥淲e have chants in our class to get them back on track. We have sign language, so they feel that they're seen and heard,鈥� she explained. 鈥淏ecause a lot of times just waiting to raise their hand, they don't get as many chances to verbalize what they want to say. So they say it through our signs! Which is 鈥� 'I agree,' 'yes,' 'no,' 'listen.'鈥�
On a recent morning, the sign language rippled through the class, as kids quietly flashed their hand signals, showing they were listening and ready to jump in.
Dotel and her students picked up a lesson on conflict resolution right where they had left off the day before.
鈥淐an someone remind us, what is a conflict? Pierce?鈥� she asked.
鈥淚t's a problem,鈥� a student named Pierce replied.
鈥淚t's a problem that you're facing,鈥� Dotel said. 鈥淛.J., do you want to add to that?鈥�
鈥淟ike a problem that you run into?鈥� J.J. said.
鈥淵eah. Something that you run into, that you don't really like,鈥� Dotel said. 鈥淎nd then we talked about resolution. And some of you guys told me what you feel about resolution. Spencer?鈥�
鈥淩esolutions are 鈥� it's basically 鈥� it鈥檚 like a solution to your problem,鈥� Spencer said.
Throughout the morning, Dotel was weaving in lessons on relationship building and emotional intelligence 鈥� even while the kids were playing musical chairs.
When the music stopped, the students sat down at whatever desk was closest. On the desks, they found sheets of paper where their classmates had written about conflicts they鈥檙e facing in their own lives 鈥� like being left out at recess or dealing with an annoying brother.
鈥淥k! Read that problem that one of your friends is going through!鈥� Dotel said.
The students鈥� task was to write down some advice about how to respond. For example, a kid who got into a shoving match on the playground should say sorry and talk it out.
鈥淚 believe in relationship-centered classrooms. So the first thing I do is I try to get to know my students. I want them to build bonds within each other. I want them to get to know their teacher,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd trust is a big thing. Being vulnerable with one another. And we learn from there.鈥�
Nick Acosta
Nick Acosta鈥檚 classroom at Miami Springs Senior High School is more like a small warehouse. Wooden pallets are stacked high with boxes and students practice on a row of forklift simulators.
The persistent beeping sound of a vehicle driving in reverse permeates the space.
鈥淲here have you guys seen these before? These kinds of forklifts?鈥� Acosta asks a group of students crowded around the large monitors of one of the simulators. 鈥淟owe鈥檚? Home Depot? Ok, perfect.鈥�
Acosta left the logistics industry five years ago to come back to teach at his alma mater.
鈥淚 always tell everybody, 'Look, if I didn't have a job here in this program, I'd probably go back to industry,'鈥� Acosta said. 鈥淏ut I think what really keeps me here is this is my old high school. It's the pride that I take in 鈥� bringing back my high school experience and trying to improve it for these kids.鈥�
Acosta says classes like his are about giving students concrete job skills that will make them employable as soon as they graduate 鈥� or even sooner.
鈥淏ecause a lot of these kids help their parents. They're helping their parents trying to get ahead,鈥� Acosta said. 鈥淢ortgages or rent in Miami is extremely expensive now, so everybody's got to contribute to the household. So these are skills that can help them make ends meet.鈥�
That鈥檚 the reality for many Miami-Dade students, who are choosing potential career tracks as early as middle school. By the time they graduate high school, some already have their associate's degree.
One of Acosta鈥檚 students, Lucas Pedrianes, was planning to drop out to work full-time 鈥� but says he stayed in school because of Acosta.
鈥淲hen I was 16, I told my dad, 'Hey look, I'm not really good at school. Can we just open up my trucking company?' He says 'Okay, how much do you need?' And he invested in me,鈥� Pedrianes said. 鈥淎nd then I met Acosta and 鈥� I stayed in longer because of him.鈥�
Now, Pedrianes is a senior. He鈥檚 getting ready to graduate and go to Florida International University to major in logistics 鈥� thanks to Acosta's encouragement.
鈥淎costa again. You know, I feel like this has become like a codependency on him,鈥� Pedrianes said with a laugh. 鈥淗e's a wonderful teacher and he has really good connections with the FIU program. And he got a lot of students that are interested in pursuing logistics and a four year degree. A lot of them will be going to the FIU program, like myself.鈥�
Acosta says helping students find their purpose in this critical stage of their lives can make all the difference.
鈥淭he most important thing for a student in high school or at any school is they gotta find their 'why.' There's got to be a reason why they go to high school,鈥� Acosta said. 鈥淎nd so 鈥� I'm glad that I can be that why for this student, you know?鈥�
For Acosta, the nomination to be Teacher of the Year is great. But the real reward is seeing his students go off and thrive 鈥� and then come back and ask for his advice on their 401(k)s.
Alina Hughes Robinson
Like Acosta, the logistics teacher, Alina Hughes Robinson first worked in the private sector before going into the classroom. Six years later, she鈥檚 still going strong.
Hughes Robinson knows what it鈥檚 like to juggle work and school; she says she got her start at the Chick-fil-A at Dadeland Mall while she was still in high school 鈥� a rite of passage many Miami-Dade students can appreciate.
Later, she went off to the University of Central Florida and landed positions at SeaWorld, Marriott Vacations Worldwide and the PGA National Resort & Spa.
After 15 years in the industry, Hughes Robinson now teaches in the Hospitality & Tourism program at Robert Morgan Educational Center in South Dade.
Now, her classroom is decorated with airplanes, maps and suitcases 鈥� a reminder to her students of all the places a career can take them.
鈥淚'm always pushing them,鈥� Hughes Robinson said of her students. 鈥淲hatever competition we can get into, whatever scholarship offering that there is 鈥� I'm always pushing them to do more 鈥� be more. And pushing them beyond what they think they can do.鈥�
Today's teachers face so many challenges, and many educators say they're persistently overworked, underpaid and under-appreciated.
But Hughes Robinson says she's appreciative of the working conditions of teaching, like getting to spend holidays with her family. Before she started teaching hospitality at Robert Morgan, she spent more than a decade working in hotels and amusement parks.
鈥淗onestly, as a mom of two younger ones, this falls in line of what's beneficial," she said.
"Being in the industry, though, keep in mind 鈥� there's no such thing as holidays. And you're constantly on,鈥� Hughes Robinson said. 鈥淗onestly, this is more relaxed for me. And helping the kids is more interesting than trying to help an adult get a better room.鈥�
Josh Myrie is a senior at Robert Morgan and says he鈥檚 enrolled in three of her classes this year.
As he gets closer to graduation day, Myrie says he鈥檚 been thinking a lot about how to support himself financially.
鈥淢y parents always made it known that we had to kind of know what we鈥檙e doing by the time of high school,鈥� he explained.
Myrie says he鈥檚 always loved cooking and Hughes Robinson has supported him in that 鈥� quizzing him and the other students on marketing strategies and coaching them on the process to earn their 鈥� an industry-standard credential.
鈥淪he kinda opened the window for that,鈥� Myrie said. 鈥淎nd I always wanted to open my own restaurant and I feel like her information is making that come true.鈥�
William Torres
William Torres spent years working as a concept artist for Cartoon Network and Warner Brothers ... and also found himself coaching his colleagues. It鈥檚 in the genes.
"I come from a family of teachers," he said. "My grandfather was a teacher. My father was a teacher. And two of my aunts were teachers."
So, 22 years ago, he officially joined them. Now he teaches graphic arts and 3-D animation to high schoolers and adult students at his alma mater, Robert Morgan Educational Center & Technical College, on the other side of campus from Alina Hughes Robinson.
Torres is nominated in the district鈥檚 adult and technical ed category.
On a recent afternoon, Torres walked up and down his classroom, stopping to pose questions and offer tips to the students seated at the rows of computer workstations.
A blended class of high schoolers and adult learners hunched over their designs 鈥� cars speeding down a snowy switchback road or racing through a technicolor desert 鈥� while 3-D printers hummed in the background.
鈥淩emember, it's not about the image,鈥� Torres told the class during a photoshop demonstration. 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the process. Once you learn the process, it鈥檚 just applying it to different images.鈥�
Torres says he sees his classes as a way to give students an art school-style education 鈥� without all the debt.
鈥淲hen I graduated from high school, I wanted to go to the Art Institute,鈥� he said. 鈥淢y parents could not afford the school.鈥�
He says he made it in the industry anyway, working as a concept artist for Cartoon Network and Warner Brothers, before coming back to his alma mater.
鈥淚 learned that I had a passion for teaching too. To teach people and train them. And decided that I wanted to make a difference with the students,鈥� Torres said.
Torres says that coming back to teach at the same school that he graduated from decades before is a full circle moment for him.
鈥淚'm going to retire from the same room that I started as a student,鈥� he said. 鈥淎mazing, huh?鈥�
