Thursday, April 23, 2020
A Mississippi State elementary education graduate recently was awarded her school’s teacher of the year award.
MSU alum Shea Thrash never thought a hobby would land her an award, let alone set her on a path that would lead her across the world to teach English. Thrash began teaching for an online English as a second language company. After teaching in the early mornings before work and on the weekends, Thrash decided to apply to an open position with the company English First and chose the city of Suzhou, China, as her teaching position.
“A friend of mine is also from the city of Suzhou,” Thrash said of her choice of teaching location. “Often, he would tell me stories of his great memories growing up in China, and I couldn’t help but be curious myself. So when I was offered a position and was asked where I wanted to teach – of course, I chose the city that I’d heard so much about.”
The district that Thrash teaches in is a network of six individual schools throughout the city. Her award, the EF Suzhou 2019 Top New Staff award, is given to the top teacher for the entire city network. The award is given based on in-class teacher performance as well as parent feedback, assessment scores, student feedback and administration feedback. After speaking with her school manager, Thrash learned that the award committee looks at all of those with both local and international teachers. When she heard the news that she had earned the award, Thrash was thrilled.
“I felt so proud! Words cannot express how much time and effort that I have put in to be the educator that I am,” said Thrash. “I have been very blessed in life to have learned under some amazing instructors in college as well as primary and secondary school. I feel like winning this award was a win for my hometown. The award is great, but when I think about how I came to get it, I just remember all those people that believed in me and knew I could do it.”
Established in 1903, MSU’s College of Education is now home to six academic departments, one research unit and numerous service units. For more about the college, visit //www.educ.msstate.edu/.
MSU is Mississippi’s leading university, available online at www.msstate.edu.
MSU PHOTO ID: (Photo submitted)
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