A Portage Life in the Spotlight: Vicky Mills

Vicky Mills has had a long career with Myers Elementary School in Portage. She began at Myers Elementary as a classroom assistant before shifting to her current role as library media clerk. So far, Mills has served in this role for the past 24 years. She has served a total of 30 years between both roles. 

Mills’ local community, including members of the Myers Elementary community, is very important to her. She enjoys her work and wants to see everyone around her succeed, including her students. 

“I love what I do,” Mills said. “I just want everybody to be the best version of themselves that they can.” 

In her role as library media clerk, Mills enjoys helping the elementary students select books. It is rewarding for her to see their love for reading blossom. 

“I love getting them excited about reading and learning new things,” said Mills. “There are some things that they didn’t think they would like and now they love.”

Sometimes, Mills has students that do not want to read. In these instances, Mills gets creative with how she inspires them.

“We’re always trying to find something for them to read and get them excited about writing stuff,” Mills said. “We do have a lot of reluctant readers, so we have to really search and find what they might like. I think that’s a big challenge every day to come in and find stuff for the kids to read and to get excited about it.”

Mills successfully inspires students often to the point where they end up loving the books she gives them. 

“It makes my day when they come back and they’re like ‘Mrs. Mills, this is the best book,’” she said. “We need to find another book like this or something like that.” 

For Mills, this effort to inspire is constant. Immediately after inspiring one student, Mills looks to inspire more. 

“Once we reach one, now I need to tackle how I’m going to help another one to see what we can do,” Mills said.

In order to inspire a love of reading or deepen it, Mills tries to incorporate different and dynamic reading activities for the students. She doesn’t want learning to ever become stale for them. 

“I love changing things around for the kids all the time to do different things, so they’re not doing the same thing over and over,” she said. 

Family is very important to Mills. As a wife, mother, and grandmother, spending time with her family is one of her favorite things and she tries to maximize her time with them.

“I spend as much time with my family as I can,” Mills said. “I’m at my happiest when I’m with my family.”

In total, Mills and her husband have two children and five grandchildren. Both of her children attended Myers Elementary School when they were younger. Today, Mills’ daughter works in education just like her.

Mills also likes to play games and do puzzles in her free time. She enjoys hiking outdoors when it’s nice out.

Mills’ dedication to her work is directly impacting the next generation of Portage. Through inspiring a love for reading in young minds, Portage’s next generation is that much more equipped to contribute to their community.