Arizona's 2023 Teacher of the Year from Willcox High School

WILLCOX, Ariz. (KGUN) — A Willcox High School chemistry teacher was selected as the Arizona Educational Foundation’s 2023 teacher of the year.

Teaching chemistry requires lots of patience, something that chemistry teacher, Ty White, has a lot of.

“Him having that patience and time to help the students understand a very hard subject, I think that makes him stand out,” said Willcox High School senior Ashly Castillo.

Mr. White stays after school hours to help students almost every day.

“He's there for us and he goes over it again, just to make sure that we get it,” said senior, Esmeralda Avila.

16 years in the classroom and the sponsor of the school’s science club earned him the spot as Arizona’s 2023 Teacher of the Year.

“It was very, very exciting in the moment to win it,” said White.

A title he doesn’t take lightly.

“As it's kind of settled in, I'm really thinking about all the responsibilities this means and what it means I get to do to speak out on behalf of education and other teachers in the state,” said White.

Hoping to encourage more people to teach, Mr. White said being a teacher is the most rewarding job in the world.

“When you watch these people become part of your community and you watch these people go off and become who they wanted to be,” White said.

Mr. White was named the National Rural Teacher of the Year in 2022. He also sponsors a space settlement design competition for students to participate in.

While he helps his students understand science, Mr. White’s students say it’s his caring attitude that earned him the award.

“He's helped me grow as a person and be more social. I'm still working on it. I'm still working on my speech, but the fact that he cared and he, he tried to help me, make more friends try new things out. It really did get me out of my comfort zone,” said Avila.