April 30, 2025
Spring 2025 Graduate: Shayna Cox
Name: Shayna Cox
Major/Degree Program: Secondary English Education (undergraduate degree)
Hometown/Current City: Snow Hill, NC
Hobbies/interests: In my free time I enjoy creative writing, painting, and playing with my dog!
What’s your favorite memory from your time at ECU?
My favorite memory that I made here at ECU would have to be all the nights I spent with my friends in Ballard Residence Hall my freshman year. My friends Camille and Jayla, who I met through living while living there with the Education LLC, have been my best friends since a chance encounter. There’s not a memory I have of ECU that I could love more than the ones I made with them.
What inspired you to pursue a career in education?
During my junior and senior year of high school, I was really struggling to make a decision on college. I am naturally curious, and I’m interested in nearly anything under the sun. I bounced around programs that ranged from marine biology, to pre-dental biology, to English, to fashion design/merchandising. However, I never really considered pursuing a career in education until I thought back on all of the Read Across America events I hosted throughout my high school career. I organized events where high schoolers would dress up as book characters and go read as their characters to younger students in Greene County. Seeing the excitement that sparked across the faces of the students we read to during those events made me realize just how much of a passion I have for helping children develop a sense of joy in their education. As a result, I decided to combine my two passions, English and education, to become a Secondary English Education major!
Who has made the biggest impact on your journey here?
Dr. Todd Finley has probably had the biggest impact for me and my journey here. Not only did he serve as my professor for the majority of the ENED classes I took, but he was also my mentor for the Signature Honors Project that I did with my partner, Camille Watkins. Under the guidance and support of Dr. Finley, Camille and I were able to write, edit, and publish our very first book together. We’ve both always wanted to become authors, and we found the SHP to be the perfect opportunity to develop this interest into something enchanting. If you’re interested, our book is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble online! The title of our book is Dear Ivy, (by Shayna Cox and Camille Watkins, with dedication to Todd Finley), so be sure to check it out!
What’s next after graduation?
I intend to teach Secondary English in Pitt County Schools next year!
What advice would you give to future College of Education students?
I would suggest exploring your passions and learning your style of teaching. No two teachers have the same style, and that’s a beautiful thing! Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through when you teach!
How has the College of Education prepared you for the classroom (or your next step?)
The College of Education has provided me with what I personally needed the most: confidence. I have never been a very confident person, and I was nervous about entering into this career path because I was worried that I wouldn’t be good enough to teach. However, the College of Education has an excellent support system built in, especially in the Secondary English Education program (shout out to Dr. Finley and Dr. Swaggerty), which has been an invaluable resource for me. I have developed a network of colleagues, professors, and field professionals that are always willing to offer advice and encouragement. Because of that, I have grown to be confident in my teaching skills, while still knowing that there is always more to learn. If you’re considering a degree in education, I would recommend looking into ECU’s program.
From Dr. Todd Finley (associate professor in English education): She is an Honors College student, an English Education major, and a English major. She has completed many service hours while maintaining a high GPA. She consistently is generous to her fellow students and was instrumental in the Office for Clinical Experiences when they were understaffed.
From Dr. Angela Novak (associate professor in elementary education): Shayna’s resume summary statement reads: “A driven future educator who is eager to begin a longstanding teaching career. With a concentration in gifted education and rural education, the candidate is excited for the opportunity to apply her growing knowledge and experience to a community of educators.” This opener sums up my experience with Shayna Cox, as I met her through her participation in my gifted education courses and was thrilled to see her at ECU’s Collaborative Action in Rural Education (CARE) Corps Summer Learning Exchange. Shayna exemplifies academic achievement, service, and leadership as a gifted high-achieving student, in her service to the community and university, and through her leadership skills as an educator-in-training. She has made her footprint, and is poised to continue to do so, on the education profession and her rural community. In addition to bringing 43 college credits from Lenoir Community College, and 15 AP Credits, with her to ECU as a freshman, Shayna has an overall academic average of 3.959 entering her second semester of senior year. She has received several scholarships; most notably, she is a Chancellor’s Fellow of the Honors College at ECU and a Pat & Lynn Lane Scholar in the education living learning community. Shayna has over 140 hours of demonstrated service to her community tracked through Give Pulse, will complete 900 hours through ECU CARE Corps, and spent four years as an ECU Apple Ambassador. Shayna demonstrates leadership educator-in-training, teacher-leadership is embedded, and through several different work experiences. These roles have strengthened her exhibited leadership skills in team building, management, organization, communication, handing sensitive information, and creativity, contributing to her exemplary potential as a teacher-leader. As her instructor and the coordinator for the Academically and Intellectually Gifted (AIG) program at ECU, Shayna impressed me with her dedication to her learning and growth, as one of the first undergraduate students to pursue the new AIG add-on licensure coursework option. She contributed thoughtful and well-researched posts to the community discussion board, making deep connections that clearly demonstrate her pedagogical and leadership savvy. Her authentic assessments, such as creating a forward-facing website for the community or recommending adjustments to the AIG plan for the superintendent, were thorough and steeped in evidence-based best practices. Even after she finished the four AIG courses, Shayna communicated with me about her honors project, a collection of short stories with a fellow honors student. They later worked on submitting the short story collection as a professional book proposal to a publishing house. Most recently, I had the opportunity to work with Shayna in my position as an affiliate with the Rural Education Institute in the College of Education. In her final year at ECU, Shayna applied for the Collaborative Action in Rural Education (CARE) Corps, sponsored by the N.C. Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service and housed within the Rural Education Institute. Shayna is from a rural community herself, a small town in Greene County, and this program is a way to strengthen learning environments in rural schools through additional training and volunteer hours. This requires a service commitment above and beyond the typical senior year education internship, as well as beyond what Shayna’s obligations are as a Chancellor’s Fellow and a Lane scholar. Undoubtedly, Shayna exhibits exemplary academic achievement, an outstanding record of service to the University and the community, and both exhibited and potential leadership qualities.