Micah Thomas never planned to be a teacher.
Growing up, sports were his safe haven — not for trophies, but for survival. Before “bullying” was even a widely recognized word, a middle-school-aged Micah had figured out that when you’re the point guard, the catcher, the goalie — the person central to the team — nobody messes with you. Sports gave him protection. Later, they gave him purpose.
His path to Haynes wasn’t a straight line. After the 2008 housing crisis scrambled the job market, Micah found himself working a summer education program from 7 am to 7 pm for $150 a week. The pay was terrible. The work was the most rewarding of his life. He started substitute teaching, got placed at E.L. Haynes, and figured it probably wasn’t for him.
Then, on his first day back as the official PE and Health teacher, three kids sprinted down the hallway and wrapped their arms around him. “We thought you were leaving,” they said. He’s been here seven years.
What keeps him? He’ll tell you without hesitation: the people.
“I’ve never been anywhere where the teachers are celebrated as much as they are here,” Micah says — and he means it practically. First Friday treats. Staff functions. Haynes Honors. Birthday happy hours where the whole staff actually shows up. A former colleague who left for another school came to one of those gatherings recently and told Micah, “We don’t do this. We get Christmas and Teacher Appreciation Week — that’s it.” Micah’s response? “You might as well come on back.”
But E.L. Haynes isn’t just a feel-good workplace. It’s a forward-looking one. Micah describes a school pushing to become the first K–12 STEAM-dominant school in the Washington, D.C. metro area, actively weaving AI into its learning model, and building intervention programs like WIN Block — where Micah, a Howard University-trained Speech and Applied Communications major, co-teaches ELA alongside core instructors, helping students structure presentations and communicate with confidence.
That confidence piece runs deep for him. In his gym, there are no shortcuts for bullying or putting a teammate down. He separates developing players from advanced ones at the start — intentionally — because he knows what it feels like when someone you look up to tells you you’re not good enough. He won’t let that happen on his watch. This year, her girls’ volleyball team went 6-3, winning more games than the program had in the previous four years combined. He’ll tell you that had nothing to do with him, and everything to do with young women deciding they wanted to win.
E.L. Haynes is resilient, futurist, and celebratory — Micah’s three words for the school’s spirit. He lived all three. And after seven years, he still can’t imagine starting over anywhere else.