High school Social Studies teacher Shelby Borst of New Castle, Delaware, has been named her state’s 2025 Teacher of the Year. Photo credit: Delaware Live
I am always excited to share the story of an outstanding educator who works in our public schools. Today, I share the story of Shelby Borst, a high school Social Studies teacher from New Castle, Delaware. She has been named her state’s 2025 Teacher of the Year.
Shelby teaches college preparatory courses in Sociology and Advanced Placement Psychology to students in grades nine through twelve at William Penn High School. Some of the courses she teaches are dual enrollment. In addition to the courses she teaches at the high school, Shelby also facilitates distance learning courses in social problems, history of the Holocaust and cultural resilience.
Throughout her nine years in the classroom, Shelby has championed practices that support students and cultivate an environment of growth. “I enjoy creating experiences for students,” declares Shelby, “whether that is something like the posters in my classroom, where they are navigating chapters on their own, and I’m there as a facilitator, or maybe it’s an interactive experience where they go on a safari and they have to figure out what has happened to the different people that are working within that safari,” she continues. “We just recently went on a scavenger hunt the other day for our perception concepts, so students were tasked with using their devices and technology to take photos of these perception concepts, wherever they see closure or similarity or continuity, and they were able to leave the classroom, and the world was theirs,” she explains. “The learning is in their hands, and I’m a facilitator,” she concludes. In addition, Shelby has led schoolwide Tier 1 initiatives designed to foster a strong, supportive school culture by emphasizing inclusivity, equity, resilience, and student engagement.
Shelby is not the only member of her family to go into to the profession. Her aunt was a middle school math teacher who taught special education students. “I remember she would bring me in during the summer. I would help decorate her classroom or help grade little things that she would be able to give me,” Shelby recalls, “So I’ve been around teachers my whole life, and I’ve gotten to see the insides of what it means to be an educator, so I definitely attribute that exposure to her.”
The Delaware educator earned her Bachelor’s degree in Social Studies Education from the University of Delaware. She earned her Master’s degree in Curriculum and Instruction from Western Governors University.
