The English Department named Stefani McClanahan the English Teaching Student of the Year for 2022-23. The English Teaching Committee has this to say about Stefani's efforts: “As an English teaching student, Stefani consistently shared her passion for teaching and learning with her peers. In doing so, she was a classroom leader, pushing herself and her peers to develop deeper pedagogical understandings and enact ethical instructional practices. Stefani believes that all students can enrich the classroom environment, and she successfully demonstrated the ability to build from students’ strengths during her clinical experiences. Due to her success as a student teacher, she was invited to become a full-time teacher before completing student teaching. Currently, Stefani is teaching tenth grade English and creative writing at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum, Utah. She also contributed to the English Department through her participation in the Writing Fellows program and involvement as a reviewer for Sink Hollow.” 

On the importance of her time at USU, Stefani says, “I transferred to USU in Fall of 2020. Despite all of the struggles of online learning and bad zoom call connections, I immediately fell in love with all of my professors. As in-person classes began to resume, the classes in the English Teaching program were more project-based and involved learning from my own classmates. I took a lot of notes. Notes that I still have and use in my classroom today! I am so grateful for the professors and fellow students in this program that helped me prepare for my first year of teaching at Mountain Crest High School.”