(Source for Photo and Credit for Photo: Photo Courtesy of Brett Sims/Council of Chief State School Officers – Danielle Smith, Keystone News Service, Caption for Photo: Ashlie Crosson, the 2025 National Teacher of the Year, will spend a year representing educators and serving as an ambassador for the teaching profession. – Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Reported by Danielle Smith of Keystone News Service)

(Mifflin County, PA) A high school educator from Pennsylvania has been named this year’s National Teacher of the Year, one of the highest honors in the field. The prestigious award is for educators who have demonstrated excellence in the classroom and exceptional commitment to their students. Ashlie Crosson teaches Advanced Placement language and composition, English 10 and survival stories at Mifflin County High School. She says she’s honored to receive the award. Inspired by great teachers growing up, she has been an educator for more than 14 years and calls teaching one of the oldest and most rewarding careers and one the world will always need. According to Crosson, “I had amazing teachers who valued me and invested in me and made me feel confident and smart and important. If you can do a job where you get to make other people feel like that, that’s a good way to spend a life. And I think that’s what we try to sort of focus on or celebrate for students.” Crosson also teaches the journalism program, which publishes the school newspaper and the district magazine. She has had a positive impact on her students’ academic and career paths as some of her former students now work at the local newspaper.