Baylor School of Education Grad Named National Student Teacher of the Year
Ashlyn Bergethon, B.S.Ed. ’24, earns top Texas & national honors, extending Baylor SOE’s string of student teaching awards

Baylor University School of Education graduate Ashlyn Bergethon, B.S.Ed. ’24. (Photo credit: April Annette Photography)
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Baylor University School of Education (SOE) graduate Ashlyn Bergethon, B.S.Ed. ’24, has continued an impressive string of Baylor SOE student teachers being recognized with national and state honors for their work in the classroom while a Baylor senior.
Bergethon was named National Student Teacher of the Year by Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education, and the Association of Teacher Educators and Clinical Teacher of the Year for the State of Texas from the Texas Directors of Field Experience, an organization of faculty members within university teacher-education programs who supervise field experiences.
Both awards honor senior-level, teacher-education students for classroom teaching excellence during the student-teaching experience. Bergethon is the third national recipient for a Baylor SOE student teacher since 2019 and the sixth statewide recipient since 2016.
Now teaching Algebra I and Honors Algebra II at Robinson High School, Bergethon also was a student teacher at RHS, where her mentor teachers, Meaghan Lewis and Aaron Snow, are now colleagues.
Bergethon said she really loved her student teaching at Robinson High and appreciated her mentors and the administration, so she calculated her decision to stay at Robinson like a mathematician.
“I know that the first year for teachers can be the most stressful, so I eliminated some of the variables by choosing someplace I already loved,” she said. As a first-year teacher, she has about 150 students in six class periods.
Called to teaching
Bergethon came to Baylor from Virginia Beach, Virginia, drawn by Baylor’s reputation as an excellent school for future educators, D-1 athletics and Baylor’s status as a Christian Research 1 university.
“My faith is really important to me,” she said. “As I was going through the decision process, the Lord just really told me that Baylor was the place I need to be, so I took a leap of faith and moved across the country. I haven’t regretted it since.”
Bergethon has dreamed of being a teacher since sixth grade, when she would arrive early to be “teacher’s helper.” Her aspirations solidified when her sixth-grade science teacher noticed her passion and assigned her to write and deliver a lesson. She taught her first lesson on light and sound waves.”
In high school, she was accepted into the Virginia Teachers for Tomorrow program, which confirmed her love of teaching and allowed her to teach younger students while a junior and senior.
Baylor success
Rachelle Rogers, Ed.D., clinical professor in the Department of Curriculum & Instruction at Baylor SOE, taught Bergethon in mathematics methods classes and also served as her faculty field supervisor when she was student teaching.
“Ashlyn’s knowledge in math is tremendous, and the students immediately accepted her as someone they can trust,” Rogers said.
Rogers noted a math lesson that Bergethon designed as a student teacher, based on a gameshow, that spread all over her campus and the middle school because of its creativity and ability to engage students.
Bergethon credits Baylor’s early field experiences (in the freshman year) and the yearlong student-teaching experience for her success and preparation for the profession. She also noted campus leadership roles – chaplain of Alpha Phi, peer coach for the SOE’s Student Advisory Council, a group leader at Highland Baptist Church and a volunteer for Vertical Ministries.
“These opportunities really helped me grow in my leadership and prepare me to lead a classroom well,” she said.
As a senior at Baylor, Bergethon was recognized by the SOE with the M.L. Goetting Award for Outstanding Student in Secondary Education. The award is named in honor of Dr. M.L. Goetting, who was dean of the School of Education from 1957-1971.
Bergethon is committed to “making learning fun,” which she said is “especially important in math, a subject that is not popular among many students.”
Bergethon also prioritizes attending students’ athletics and fine arts events, which she said “contributes to knowing students, building trusting relationships and communicating to students that they are valued.”
History of achievement
Baylor graduates have earned state honors in six of the last eight years the award was given and three out of the last five years for the national award.
Baylor University National Student Teacher of the Year Award Recipients*:
- Ashlyn Bergethon, B.S.Ed. ’24 (secondar mathematics)
- Emily Blackwell, B.S.Ed. ’22 (elementary education)
- Lauren Hornbeak, B.S.Ed. ’19 (secondary science)
Baylor University Texas Student Teacher of the Year Award Recipients*:
- Ashlyn Bergethon, B.S.Ed. ’24 (secondary mathematics)
- Debbie Chou, B.S.Ed. ’23 (elementary education)
- Alexandra Ronnenberg, B.S.Ed. ’21 (elementary education)
- Lauren Hornbeak, B.S.Ed. ’19 (secondary science)
- Rachel Vaughn, B.S.Ed. ’17 (elementary education)
- Stephanie Wright, B.S.Ed. ’16, M.S.Ed. ’17 (all-level special education, educational psychology applied behavior analysis)
*Neither award was given in 2020 due to COVID-19.
To be considered for the student-teacher honors, Baylor seniors must be nominated by their faculty field supervisor. Students then submit written information about their teaching philosophy and create and deliver a lesson. The lesson plan, a video of the lesson and a video reflection on the lesson are all part of the application reviewed by a Baylor faculty committee, which chooses two nominees to submit at both the state and national levels. Bergethon’s winning lesson for Algebra I focused on factoring and used algebra tiles.
ABOUT BAYLOR UNIVERSITY
Baylor University is a private Christian University and a nationally ranked Research 1 institution. The University provides a vibrant campus community for more than 20,000 students by blending interdisciplinary research with an international reputation for educational excellence and a faculty commitment to teaching and scholarship. Chartered in 1845 by the Republic of Texas through the efforts of Baptist pioneers, Baylor is the oldest continually operating University in Texas. Located in Waco, Baylor welcomes students from all 50 states and more than 100 countries to study a broad range of degrees among its 12 nationally recognized academic divisions. Learn more about Baylor University at www.baylor.edu.
ABOUT BAYLOR SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
For more than 100 years, the School of Education has advanced Baylor’s mission across the globe while preparing students for a range of careers focused on education, leadership, and human development. With more than 65 full-time faculty members, the School’s growing research portfolio complements its long-standing commitment to excellence in teaching and student mentoring. Baylor’s undergraduate program in teacher education has earned national distinction for innovative partnerships with local schools that provide future teachers deep clinical preparation. Likewise, the School of Education’s graduate programs have attained national recognition for their exemplary preparation of research scholars, educational leaders, innovators, and clinicians. Visit the School of Education website to learn more.