Dedicated high school math instructor and college adjunct professor Jason Stroups succumbed to Covid-19 on Jan. 6, 2022. Photo Credit: Jefferson College
We are sad to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another dedicated educator. Jason Stroups, a mathematics teacher in Arnold, Missouri, succumbed to the disease on Jan. 6, 2022. He was only 52 years old.
Jason was born on May 11, 1969, in St. Louis, Missouri. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Science Education from the University of Central Missouri, and his Master’s degree from Southwest Baptist University.
In a career that spanned 30 years, Jason’s first job as an educator was as a permanent substitute teacher in his district. Eventually he worked his way into a job in the Central Office helping students earn their GEDs. From there he accepted a teaching position at Ridgewood Middle School, where he worked from 1993 to1995, and then he moved on to Fox High School, where he taught math from 1995 until his passing. In addition, for more than 20 years, Jason was was an adjunct professor at Jefferson College, Missouri Baptist University, and Maryville University.
“I have had a lot of people say he inspired them to be math teachers or he was the first teacher to get them to understand math,” recalls the fallen teacher’s daughter, Jennifer Stroups. “He really connected with kids who didn’t understand because he had to teach himself in a unique way because he didn’t like school growing up,” she revealed.
Jason worked at the school he attended as a young high school student. He and his wife, Kim, both graduated from Fox High School after attending Seckman Junior High School in Imperial, said Kathy Crandall, the fallen educator’s sister-in-law.
“He was fun loving and family oriented. He was dedicated to teaching and putting others before himself,” shared Jason’s widow, Kim Stroups, who now works as the librarian at Ridgewood Middle School. She commented that even after Jason was diagnosed with Covid-19 and hospitalized, he continued to work. “Even after he was admitted to the hospital and he was on oxygen, he had his computer out and was submitting college grades and answering questions about grades and finals,” she remembered.
