by AAK Maitland Pickle
Deana Silk may have started her professional career in front of a television camera, but her heart now belongs in the classroom.
A native of Alva, Oklahoma, and a 1999 graduate of Alva High School, Deana always loved storytelling. She attended the University of Oklahoma from 1999 to 2003, earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism. After college, she began her journalism career at KSWO in Lawton before moving to Tulsa to anchor the morning news at KJRH, where she stayed nearly a decade.
“I wanted to be Katie Couric,” she says. “I never made it to NYC, but I did get to live out my dream job.”
Many of Deana’s favorite stories centered on education. As the station’s education reporter, she visited countless classrooms and witnessed the powerful impact of passionate teachers. That exposure sparked something deeper.
After the birth of her daughter in 2013, Deana sought a more family-friendly schedule. She joined the Oklahoma State Department of Education as deputy director of communications under Superintendent Joy Hofmeister. During those four years, she traveled the state highlighting the amazing things happening in public schools. In 2019, she realized she wanted to be one of those educators making a difference.
“It was in this job that I truly began to see the hard work and passion that public school teachers pour into their classrooms,” she says.
She later joined Mustang Public Schools, where she taught journalism and yearbook to 9th through 12th grade students. In 2024, her peers honored her as Mustang High School’s Teacher of the Year, an experience she describes as humbling.
“I worked with more than 200 amazing educators at Mustang High School who helped me become the teacher I am today,” she says. “They showed me how to support students not just academically but emotionally too.”
Deana and her husband Carson, who grew up in Sayre and graduated from Oklahoma State University, have been married since 2008. Carson works for Ulterra Drilling Technologies. They have two children: Brooklyn, a sixth grader at Kingfisher Upper Elementary, and Crew, a third grader at Heritage.
This year marks Deana’s seventh year in the classroom and her second at Kingfisher Junior High. She currently teaches 8th grade reading and Yearbook.
“Last year was my first time teaching junior high. It took me a few months to adjust, but by Christmas, I think we had figured each other out and I grew to really enjoy my 8th graders.”
Her favorite subject to teach remains journalism, and she enjoys combining that passion with her reading and yearbook classes. “Journalism is storytelling. Whether it’s through a camera lens or a yearbook page, we get to capture history in a meaningful way.”
The Silk family is looking forward to relocating to Kingfisher soon, and Deana says the community has already embraced them warmly. “It’s not always easy being the new family in a small town, but we’ve been so welcomed. We’re proud to be Yellowjackets.”
Photos provided.
