St. Albans teacher awarded West Virginia High School Physical Education Teacher of the Yea

KANAWHA COUNTY, W.Va. (WCHS/WVAH) — One teacher at St. Albans High School received one of the top awards in his field.

Now students are reacting to the news.

"He's probably one of the best teachers I have right now,” said sophomore Jillian Holley.

Michael Scarbro has spent 16 years as a teacher. Seven of those have been at St. Albans.

"It's a very rewarding career path. It's a very rewarding profession,” said Michael Scarbro, PE and Health teacher at St. Albans High School.

This year, he was nominated and awarded the West Virginia High School Physical Education Teacher of the Year by the West Virginia Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance.

"It's good because it gives you an opportunity to be like, 'Wow,' all your sweat equity does pay off sometime,” said Scarbro. “It does give you an opportunity to pause for a minute and say 'Wow I am good. I'm not just making it up.'"

Students in Scarbro's health class said they like his teaching style.

"He actually tries to explain it and has a good time with it and jokes around,” said junior Lindsey Jarvis. “I like that because you get to learn and have a good time. It's not just like you're sitting there waiting for class to end."

"He certainly adds a certain amount of flavor to classes that other teachers don't,” said junior Joseph Clay. “We don't have a lot of struggle for learning the concepts in class."

Scarbro said he's looking to get his master's degree and maybe one day transition into an administrative role.

While he received an award for his health and physical education teaching, he said the true reward is something else.

"The reward is the students and the relationships that you build with them while you have them and even afterwards,” said Scarbro.