Valencia High School teacher Casey Cuny, of Santa Clara, California, is used to having the attention of a classroom on him, teaching 10th grade Honors English and 12th grade mythology and folklore.
But he's not used to a national spotlight.
“To be the California Teacher of the Year is just incredibly humbling. It's such an honor to represent all these incredible teachers around our state,” said Cuny in an interview Thursday. “It's just incredible, and it's a great honor.”
Cuny joined teachers from around the country this week in Washington, D.C. to attend the first-ever White House State Dinner for teachers, hosted by First Lady and fellow educator, Dr. Jill Biden.
“It’s a calling, and all of you were called to this profession for a reason. You believe that a better world is possible — and you make that world real, one student at a time,” Dr. Biden told teachers at the dinner. The dinner honoring teachers was announced by Dr. Biden last month during an appearance on CBS This Morning.
“To answer the call of teaching, is in itself, an act of hope. You look at your students and don’t just see who they are today — you see all the possibility of tomorrow. You help them find the light within themselves, and that light lives on in all of you.”
Cuny said being invited to the state dinner was “mind-blowing.”
“They’re shining a light on teaching in a really positive way and in honoring that, I think they’re in a way kind of granting this ethos of respect to the profession that I think is so vital in terms of the teacher shortage that we are dealing with,” explained Cuny. “I think it’s a beautiful thing.”
Cuny has said his call to the profession stems from his own experience. When he was 13, he was diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, and found his teachers to be a source of comfort and hope during such a tough time in his life.
“We all know the power of a passionate teacher, I think we've all had many, but we can all usually remember one,” said Cuny. “That passion is contagious.”
When the COVID-19 pandemic kept educators out of the classroom, Cuny and his fellow teachers had to find new ways to channel that passion to reach students through a computer screen. He said it has changed how he approaches teaching.
“Teaching is all about relationships. I say it all the time — it's rigor through relationships,” Cuny explained. “We talk a lot about rigor, and getting kids to achieve, but if a kid it feels loved, and if they love their teacher, in return, they'll do anything.”
“That's what really kind of rose to the surface for me through the pandemic — because we were all so isolated — that we need those connections, that learning is a social process. While we have AI and all these cool tech pieces, learning at its core is a social process. And it is dependent upon that relationship," Cuny said. "And I do think too, if we communicate that better, I think we could get more people into the profession.”
As America faces a shortage of educators, Cuny said he believes part of the issue with retaining top teachers comes down to financial hardship.
“What really it comes down to is we need to attract the best talent. We need those those young people that are graduating right now from a UC or Cal State, or wherever, and thinking ‘I could be a doctor, or maybe I could be a teacher,’ and we need those people to enter the profession, and they're just not going to do it, if it's not a livable salary,” he explained.
Despite those difficulties, Cuny hopes to inspire young people to consider a career in education.
“The greatest thing I've ever done in my life was becoming a teacher. And it's been so incredibly rewarding. And I do believe that being a teacher has been on the front lines and the fight for change and progress, social justice and really a better world,” he said. “Young people today are so passionate and I see their advocacy every day. I would urge them to consider entering the profession because I do believe — my experience has been — that change occurs person to person, and there's no better way to do it than in the classroom.”