Business, Government Legal News from throughout WVW.Va. Offers Congratulations to EQT Scholarship Winners

Congratulations, scholarship winners. As high school students across the country ponder their future, I am proud that you are taking the step to further your education by attending college or other post-secondary training.

The education and skills you take away from your high schools will open doors for you forever. And I congratulate you on your accomplishment. Let this be the beginning of lifelong learning and exploring different views and cultures.

Although some of you likely have yet to decide what career path you will follow, I am thrilled that several of the EQT Students of Excellence scholarship winners are planning to become teachers. Take Spencer Flanagan from Tucker County High School. A multitasker who serves as a captain of his school's football team, president of his senior class, president of the Spirit Club and a student council representative, he wants to become a football coach and math and science teacher.

My entire professional life has been in public education; it is the work that I am passionate about, that I love and honor. There has seldom been a day during the last 40 years that I have not felt the great blessings that come from having the opportunity to touch the hearts and minds of our children. You can shape their future and make a difference in their lives. Working with children keeps your mind fresh and keeps you young at heart.

It is my hope that some of you who have yet to decide your future careers will consider teaching. Perhaps you can explore the possibility by tutoring students at a public school near your college campus or volunteering to read to children.

Teachers serve multiple roles. They often are therapists and friends, mentors and coaches. Sometimes they are providers of food and school supplies or holders of secrets. And in that way, they are some of the most important people in children's lives.

Think about it: We aren't legally mandated to spend as much time with any other kind of person as we are with teachers. An American who graduates from high school has been taught by more than 20 teachers and has spent more than 10,000 hours in their company. It's no wonder almost everyone has a story about a teacher who changed his or her life. You can be that person.

There is no better way to learn more about a subject than to teach it. Plus, you will continue to develop cognitively and professionally.

Teaching also has some stability in this uncertain world. Teaching at a K-12 level was listed as the No. 1 bulletproof career for 2009 in the Military Times Edge magazine.

With nearly 30 percent of the state's 20,000 classroom teachers eligible to retire this year, teaching has become a profession in dire need of talented, energetic young people to fill the anticipated void.

As a student, a parent and a teacher, I have always believed that excellent teaching matters more than anything else that happens in a school. It is so inspiring to be in the presence of an amazing teacher.  I love watching a teacher light up about a subject, I love watching teachers push students to do the hard thinking for themselves, and I love watching and learning from the individual style of each teacher. It is teachers who make a school great.

Today's teachers are innovative, creative and challenge their students to think outside of the box to help them develop skills necessary for college and career success. No other profession will make a greater impact on how our society evolves to meet the demands of the 21st century. 

I try to imagine Spencer and the other scholarship winners who want to become teachers entering a classroom as the person in charge for the first time, and I reminisce about my early teaching days in Marion County. It was during those early days that I quickly learned that my role as an educator was to provide much more than book knowledge; my role was to provide guidance and counsel and help children overcome their challenges to become college-bound high school graduates like you.

I want you to know I believe each of you is special no matter your vocation of choice. Still, I hope you will consider sharing your unique talents and help transform and educate the next generation by becoming teachers. Good luck, and make the most of your scholarships.

Jorea Marple is the Superintendent of Schools for West Virginia.