Erin Cornelius, Mount Union Area School District’s Gifted and English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher, seated at her desk.
By LILY HICKS | Journalism Student, Mount Union Area Senior High School
Mount Union, Pa. — On October 3, 2025, Erin Cornelius, Mount Union Area School District’s Gifted and ESL teacher, was awarded Educator of the Year by the Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce at their 24th Annual Gala. The Educator of the Year award is sponsored by Juniata College and recognizes outstanding educators who are nominated by the public each August. Winners are honored at the Annual Awards Gala in October.
For Ms. Cornelius, this recognition coincides with a year of transition. Recent shifts in teachers, administrators, and positions at Mount Union have resulted in several teachers taking on new roles; she is a prime example of this. During the 2023-2024 school year, Ms. Cornelius began her twenty-second year teaching elementary reading. Throughout the year, she recognized a growing need for additional support for ESL students within her reading groups. Over the summer of 2024, the special education director approached Ms. Cornelius and asked if she would consider moving into the ESL (English as a Second Language) and Gifted position. After consideration and restructuring, her new assignment became a half day of elementary reading and a half a day of ESL, with another teacher taking over the Gifted program.
Soon after assuming her new role, Ms. Cornelius received news that two new ESL students were joining the district, and neither of them spoke any English at all. She explained, “My reading background lent itself to teaching young students to read, and I had two nonreaders.” She did not look at this as an obstacle blocking her success, but as a challenge she would work to overcome. To help her new students, she took extra classes to earn her certificate in ESL. She said, “It was a struggle because I was taking night classes, but it was also rewarding and I really liked the feeling of seeing them go from being unable to read, to ‘Yay!’ They were reading and having conversations.” Through this process, Ms. Cornelius also gained her first experience working with high school students, which was an uncharted territory for her as she had only ever worked with elementary students.
After the district underwent further restructuring over the summer of 2025, Ms. Cornelius found herself stepping into the position of ESL and Gifted for kindergarten through twelfth grade. This new challenge was intimidating for her as she had just learned the position of ESL and was unsure how the current school year was going to pan out. She elaborated, “I like to be good at what I do. I was just learning ESL, and then to have something else that’s brand new… it’s been overwhelming. I love change, but this is a lot.” She also said she felt apprehensive and unprepared in the days leading up to her new job, as she had little experience working with high school students. She described the experience as “on the job training.”
Ultimately, Ms. Cornelius claims that she enjoys aspects of her new role. She enjoys interacting with new students and seeing a wide variety of learners each day. She went from working with seven students to now almost thirty on a regular basis. She added, “I was in awe about how blessed our district and its students really are with the different programs and opportunities offered.”
Through her dedication and growth, Ms. Cornelius found herself sitting in the Educator of the Year seat at the Huntingdon County Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Awards Gala this October. She was unaware that she had even been considered for the award and was shocked when High School Principal Chad Mickle emailed her sending his congratulations. She said she thought, “They must have made a mistake. I have no idea how I was nominated, and this year has been my biggest struggle yet.”
Although Ms. Cornelius has faced some challenges and transitions to new positions over the past few school years, she has made a tremendous impact on both her ESL and Gifted students. She has devoted the time and effort to help give her students the education she feels they rightfully deserve. She stated, “It’s a tough job—not just mine, but teaching in general. I hope that my students find my class worth it and are learning something from me.”
This article was published as part of Ms. Dimoff’s Journalism class at Mount Union Area Senior High School.
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