From the White House to MSU's campus: lecturer Karly Lyons takes teaching students personally

Excerpt from The Reflector

At the end of a long workday in March of 2016, Mississippi State University lecturer Karly Lyons opened her inbox to glance over her non-work-related emails. The words, "The President and Mrs. Obama" caught her eye, and upon opening the message, she read her presence was requested at the White House.

At first, Lyons wrote off the email as a scam. Several correspondences later, she was contacted by phone call inquiring why she had not accepted the president's invitation. The invitation was authentic after all, and after searching, "what to wear to the White House," Lyons attended the 2016 Teacher of the Year ceremony as a guest for the Ohio Department of Education.

Lyons was working as a special education teacher at the time, and this experience helped give her the confidence to apply for the Ph.D. program she is currently in at MSU.

Lyons taught kindergarten through 12th grade for 15 years in Cambridge, Ohio. However, she sensed a different calling for herself — to be a college professor.

Read the rest at The Reflector

Emma Dotson | Staff Writer

Mar 2, 2021, Updated Mar 2, 2021

Photo by Landon Scheel