Maryland high school teacher Keishia Thorpe wins $1 million Global Teacher Prize
CBSN
A Maryland high school English teacher who has worked to open up college education for her students has won the $1 million Global Teacher Prize, the Varkey Foundation announced Wednesday.
Keishia Thorpe, who teaches at International High School at Langley Park in Prince George's County, was selected from more than 8,000 nominations and applications from 121 countries around the world, the foundation said. Thorpe said she was grateful to the foundation for putting teachers in the spotlight and telling their stories.
"Education is a human right, and all children should be entitled to have access to it," Thorpe said during a ceremony streamed online. "So this recognition is not just about me, but about all the dreamers who work so hard and dare to dream of ending generational poverty."
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.