Showing Up, Encouraging Students and Making a Difference
For more than 20 years, Evelyn Matthews has dedicated her career to students in the Texarkana Arkansas School District, building relationships and creating the kind of consistency that can stay with a child long after they leave her classroom.
Matthews, a teacher at Kilpatrick Academy of Public Service, has been named the September 2026 District C.A.R.E. Employee Recognition Honoree for exemplifying Commitment, Accountability, Respect, and Excellence.
Her journey with TASD began before she had her own classroom.
“I started my career as a sub and a paraprofessional working one-on-one with special needs at the old Union Elementary campus,” Matthews said.
During more than two decades with the district, she has primarily worked with kindergarten students. For Matthews, some of the most meaningful moments are often the smallest ones.
“The thing that I enjoy most is the little ‘Aha!’ moments,” she said. “The moment when a struggling student first sounds out a word, reads a sentence independently, or writes a sentence of their own creation. Those little victories resound with me!”
Of the four C.A.R.E. values, Matthews said Commitment is the one that resonates most deeply with her.
“I try to be there every day because I know some of my students depend on that stability in their lives, and they expect me to be there without fail,” she said.
That commitment has created relationships that extend far beyond a single school year.
Matthews recalled reconnecting with a former student years later and learning just how meaningful a teacher’s words can become.
“She told me that I kept her going when she thought she could no longer go on,” Matthews said. “She remembered me telling her that she was smart and beautiful and that she could be anything. All she had to do was try, try, try!”
That former student is now an adult, a mother and a nurse.
Stories like that reflect what Matthews’ colleagues see in her as well. One colleague described her as someone others can count on whenever help is needed.
“Anytime you need her, there she is. No matter what it is, she comes through and helps with anything within her power.”
The impact is also evident in the students who return to see her long after leaving her classroom.
“The scholars always come back to see her. They actually listen when she speaks to them and try to turn themselves around.”
Matthews credits both her students and coworkers with motivating her to continue bringing her best each day, along with what she describes as “a strong desire to make a meaningful impact on someone’s day.”
Being selected as the district’s September C.A.R.E. honoree carries special meaning because it reflects recognition from the people who see that work firsthand.
“Being selected as a C.A.R.E. Honoree to me means that the daily hard work I put in is being visibly noticed by my peers and leadership,” Matthews said, “and it confirms that I am part of a team that makes a difference.”
After more than 20 years, the moments Matthews values most remain remarkably simple: a child reading a sentence, discovering something new, finding confidence, or returning years later to say that someone believed in them.
Those moments are at the heart of her work and the commitment that earned her recognition as TASD’s September 2026 District C.A.R.E. Employee Recognition Honoree.
