BY KADE MIROS

Every year, a teacher at Wadsworth High School wins an award classifying them as teacher of the year. AP Environmental Science and Honors Biology teacher Jason Jurey won the teacher of the year award for 2020-2021.

Teachers who win the award work hard throughout the year and make sure that they connect and build relationships with their students. The staff and students thought that Jurey met all of the qualifications and felt that it was only right to give the title to him.

“It really means a lot to me because I know how wonderful our staff is and to be singled out as teacher of the year, it is very humbling,” said Jurey.

Making many engaging connections with his students is one of Jurey’s priorities.

“I have Mr. Jurey for AP Environmental Science and he is an amazing teacher because his main goal is to help and engage students,” said Alex Tannehill, a Wadsworth senior. “He will go out of his way and help each student one on one with them so that the student will be successful in the class.”

Jurey has taught at the high school for 14 years.

“I give a lot of it to my colleagues and some of my biggest influences are probably teachers that I have taught with in the past such as the teacher who retired a couple of years ago, Mr. Burton,” said Jurey.

As someone who graduated from Wadsworth, Jurey also mentions that his teachers from both the high school and the middle school impacted his teaching style.

“Mr. Ladrach who teaches down at the middle school also played a role with my teaching but to be honest, we have such a great staff here,” said Jurey.

Jurey’s teaching style is very different from others.

“I like to relate with my students on a level where they do not feel scared to ask me any questions because there are often times where there is this invisible wall where we do not understand each other on a personal level,” said Jurey. “I always love to break that barrier down so that kids feel comfortable with the class environment.”

Previous years winners include Jason Knapp and Kristin MacDowell who represent similar yet different ways of their teaching proving that they deserve the award.

“I feel that I do not do anything that is different from 99% of the teachers here and mostly everyone is because of their love of education and their love of students,” said Jurey. “And for me, I did not know why it was my time.”