Standing before an audience in the McCain Theater, Meridian Community College English instructor Amanda Thompson shared the message: stories can connect, teach and even save us.

As MCC’s 2025 Humanities Teacher of the Year, Thompson presented her talk, “Stories that Save Us: Teaching Elie Wiesel and the Holocaust,” focusing on Wiesel’s lesser-known story “The Watch,” and its impact on students. She emphasized how literature helps readers understand experiences beyond their own. “It connects us to people and places we may never know, but it can still change us,” she said.

Thompson, who has taught at MCC for 12 years, earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English from Mississippi State University. She and her husband, Josh, have four children.

The Mississippi Humanities Council sponsors the award, recognizing outstanding humanities faculty statewide. Molly McMillan, Mississippi Humanities Council program officer, presented Thompson with a certificate recognizing her work.