As written by Ainsley Hall and published in The Journal on March 27, 2025
Harpers Ferry Middle School teacher Shanna Busch was named the West Virginia Council of Teachers of Mathematics (WVCTM) Middle School Math Teacher of the Year at the annual conference earlier this month.
When Busch and her co-workers attended the WVCTM conference, she had no idea that they nominated her for the award. During the banquet the first night of the event, she even remembers looking through the booklet at all the previous teachers of the year and wondering how the teacher of the year process worked.
So, when they said her name, and she saw her family gathered to celebrate with her, she was completely shocked.
“My colleagues, who were sitting next to me, caught me on video,” Busch said. “You can see on my face that I had no idea. My colleague, who nominated me, was sitting across from me. My husband had kept the secret for months. Everyone knew except me.”
Busch shared she was so honored and grateful that her co-workers thought to nominate her and to be selected out of so many other great teachers. It’s educators like them that inspired Busch to become a teacher around 14 years ago.
She has many memories of teachers who helped her and how they helped her become the person she is today. After working at Harpers Ferry Middle School for six years, she hopes to continue having an impact on students, making them feel comfortable and helping them feel more confident in their abilities.
However, teaching math can be hard. Many of her students come into class feeling a certain way about math. Busch shared that she always loved math and is very logical. Her goal is to help her students understand math better so that when they leave the classroom, they love it just a little bit more.
After seeing her receive this award, Busch hopes her students will learn to work hard in every part of their lives. Whether it’s sports or their education, she believes they will get whatever they put in.
“One thing I really want to stress to my students is that they can’t be successful if they don’t work hard,” Busch said. “It’s in math and every aspect of life. If you want to get better at soccer, then you have to practice. If you want to get good math scores, then you have to put in the work. I want to instill that in them.”
Busch is thankful for all the support she’s gotten from the Harpers Ferry Middle School community. After coming back from the conference, the school hung a banner to recognize her success.
“I’m super grateful for the whole school community,” Busch said. “The administration, the teachers, the students and the families —we have an amazing community here and I wouldn’t be the teacher I am without them.”
Want to read more about this incredible achievement? Check out these stories from additional media partners:
DC News Now
We love seeing Ms. Busch's impact celebrated!