By CRISTINA JANNEY
Hays Post

Shaina Prough, business teacher at Hays High School, is one of four generations of Hays teachers in her family.

Her grandmother taught in Hays and was present for the opening of the Felten Middle School. Her mother was a teacher. Her oldest daughter, Madison, a FHSU senior, is working in the USD 489 after-school program while she finishes her teaching degree.

“It is that whole lineage,”she said. “My grandma would be so proud,”

Shaina, 49, was nominated for the Hays Post Teacher of the Month Award by Madison.

Madison acknowledged her bias, but said she felt her mother deserved the award.

“She always goes above and beyond for her students and always puts them first,” Madison said. “She spends so much time in and outside of the classroom making sure she is prepared and can be the best teacher she can be for her students.

“I first-hand have seen all the hard work, sweat and maybe even tears that she puts in without ever thinking twice. She truly does touch the lives and hearts of so many people daily.”

Shaina Prough said she loved school as a child.

“I was that kid at the last day of school every year who would be sad because I wouldn’t be near my friends and near my teachers,” she said. “I loved coming to school, and I think I always knew that I would be a teacher somehow.”

She said she likes being able to start fresh with new students every year.

“That is the one thing about teaching,” she said. “We get do-overs. If we don’t like the way something turned out the last time we did it, we get to reinvent it for next year. Young people create an energy like none other.”

Prough is in her 25th year as a teacher in the Hays school district. She would have received her 25-year pin from the district on Friday, but she is in Orlando with 15 students for the DECA international competition.

Prough said she gets excited about watching her students compete on an international stage.

“Getting to watch those kids — their faces light up,” she said. “When we go to an arena that holds 20,000 people and that is the size of their whole community, it is a little overwhelming. They get to shine on that international level.”

Prough has been the adviser for HHS DECA for 21 years. During her time as a mentor, DECA has been active with Trick or Treat so Others Can Eat, raised money for the Ronald McDonald House Charities and organized public awareness campaigns about sexually transmitted diseases, mental health, relationship violence in cooperation with Jana’s Campaign, and school finance, among many other projects.

She said the project on school finance was challenging.

“That one was really interesting. We tried to educate a school population on how school funding and finance works, so they could hopefully not only be a voice by voting, but be aware and be able to communicate with people who make decisions about school finance on a local level,” Prough said.

This year, juniors Allison Hillebrand and Paige Polifka Denson chaired the Happiness Project. The focus was on helping students and faculty find ways to be happier.

“We were trying to create mental health awareness, as well — that it is OK to ask for help and where can you go to get help if you are feeling stressed, if your are feeling anxious, if you are feeling overwhelmed,” she said. “So we were really trying to bring to light that you are not alone if you have those feelings.”

The community service branch of HHS DECA , lead by two HHS students who are graduating in May, raised $65,000 for the Ronald McDonald House Charities last year.

“Those skills to be able to network, interact, organize, manage, lead — those are going to be able to serve them well in whatever career field they choose to go into,” Prough said.

Prough said she works with amazing students.

“Being able to see a little glimpse of where their future is going, that’s awesome,” she said. “Being a part of that is fun and exciting.”

Teaching in the business department, Prough said she is getting students ready for their futures.

“I feel those are skills that transfer on to adulthood,” she said. “Whether the student goes directly to the workforce or they chose to attend post-secondary training of some sort, whether it be a two-year program or a four-year program, I feel the skills that they gain in our business classes are those that are going to serve them for the rest of their lives.”

Prough said her biggest challenge is getting students to see the bigger picture — that what they are doing now will have effects on their future. She said she also struggles with keeping the kids motivated. She doesn’t want them to settle for the status quo.

“Mediocrity drives me crazy,” she said. “Don’t settle for what everybody else is doing. Don’t be normal, go above. I have this ‘Live with gazelle intensity and chase the cheetah,’ sign. I teach that in my personal finance class. Dave Ramsey talks about that. Don’t be the one being chased.”