Hare honored as Teacher of the Year

A couple of months ago, Dilynn Hare was selected as the 2023 Comanche Public Schools District Teacher of the Year. Earlier this month, she was celebrated by family, faculty, and staff during the April Professional Development Day.

“I am thankful for the opportunities God has given me, and I am certain that my life would be different without Him,” Hare said.

She is married to Keith Hare and they have three sons, two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren who fill them with pride. This is her 16th year of teaching and she cannot think of a better career choice. 

“As long as I can remember, I wanted to be a teacher,” Hare said. “I grew up in Comanche and graduated from Comanche High School in 1991. I went on to WOSC to play basketball and get a teaching degree. Two years later, I married my sweetheart and helped him raise our extraordinary children.”

In 2000, she took a paraprofessional position at Comanche High School and for three years she worked with teachers and students, who she found amazing. 

“It was during this time that I decided that I needed to finish my education and enrolled in Cameron University, fully expecting to return to Comanche to begin my career,” Hare said.

During her time at Cameron, her mom was also pursuing her education degree. 

“We were able to take several classes together,” Hare said. “This was my favorite part of college, collaborating and studying with my mom. We even graduated at the same time. Her decision to go back to school was an inspiration to me and one of the reasons I made the decision to return to school.”

Hare graduated from Cameron in December of 2006.

“It was the middle of the school year so I was not expecting to find a position, but I knew my life was in God’s hands,” Hare said. “I received a call from a friend that a teacher from their school had suddenly passed away and they were needing someone to finish the year with her students. My teaching career began at Plato Elementary in the middle of the school year under difficult circumstances. That semester we not only worked on education but on coping with grief.”

For the next 13 years, she worked for Duncan Public Schools at Plato Elementary. She spent the first eight years teaching third grade. One of those years was challenging with a split classroom of third and fourth graders. For the last five years, she looped with her students from second to third grade. She also spent four summers teaching summer school with third graders. 

In 2018-2019, she participated in the Jacob K. Javits Gifted and Talented Students Education Program.  As part of the grant, Hare received professional development from the K20 center, and she developed and published a lesson for their website. As a result, she worked that summer teaching summer school for gifted students. 

During her time at Plato, she received several awards.  

n 2018-2019-Masonic Teacher of Today

n 2011-2012-Plato Teacher of the Year

n 2010-2011-Masonic Teacher of Today

n 2010-2011-Plato Teacher of the Year

n 2009-2010-Masonic Teacher of Today

In the summer of 2019, she received a call from Comanche Superintendent Terry Davidson. There was a second grade position open at Comanche.

“It came out of nowhere, I was not looking to leave my current position, but as soon as he spoke those words to me, I knew Comanche was where I needed to be,” Hare said. “My grandson was starting school, this is my hometown, and this is where I began my education.  It was time to come home. I have spent the last four years and the last two summers teaching second graders at our amazing school, Comanche Elementary.”

In 2020, after watching Comanche’s outstanding wrestling team win two state championships, she was talking with her husband and with coach Casy Rowell about the girls’ exhibition matches at the state tournament. 

“We all agreed that it would be amazing if we could start a girls’ wrestling program at Comanche,” Hare said. “We already had girls wrestling with the boys, this would be a better opportunity for them.  That is how I found myself as an assistant wrestling coach. I am amazed at the talent these girls have and each year they outperform the accomplishments of the year before. I cannot wait to see how great they will be and am thankful to be a part of the program.”

Her philosophy of education is simply to create an environment where students feel safe and loved, then she will be able to educate them. 

“I may not be able to tell them about Jesus, but I can show them the love of Jesus. That is my ultimate calling,” Hare said.