A 15 year veteran educator at Alliance High School, Stephanie McKnight embodies the ideals of a true Aviator. If you ask her students and colleagues about her, they will tell you she is kind, dependable and alway willing to lend a helping hand. This year, McKnight was recognized as the 2024 Alliance City Schools Teacher of the Year!
McKnight joined the Aviator team in 2009 as the instructor for the sports medicine career tech program. She fell in love with the ACS community after working as a long term substitute in the district for a couple years. When the teaching position opened for sports medicine, it was a natural fit for her having worked in athletic training in clinical, high school, collegiate and occupational settings in Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
She has loved teaching the program for the past decade and a half. The most rewarding part:
“When a student or parent of a student who has graduated from my program has gone on to be a successful adult, either in sports medicine or a different career path, reaches out to me to say thank you for respecting them and helping them find their way, that is what I cherish most. I have saved every single message a student or parent has ever written to me.”
McKnight strives to provide all her students with real-world experiences that will prepare them for their future careers, but she also wants them to know they are valued, supported and cared about even after they leave AHS.
“I believe my job isn’t just about teaching the fundamentals of sports medicine, but also about helping to grow good humans,” McKnight said. “I hope I am able to inspire my students and athletes to contribute to the world in such a positive and effective way that it creates a ripple effect of good.”
Along with teaching, and coaching track and field and the girls strength and conditioning program, McKnight launched the #LikeAGirl mentoring program this past school year, making a positive impact on the lives of dozens of young Aviator girls. The program partners high school girls as mentors and role models for students in kindergarten through middle school and showcases different opportunities and career paths available to them as they get older. She wants to show the young students that they can do anything they set their minds to.