2025 Ball Award Winners Make an Impact in Students’ Lives Alina de Zoysa ’25 and Henry Chen ’25 are applying lessons learned at W&L to their work helping K-12 students succeed.

By Kelsey Goodwin
October 17, 2025

“I really enjoy that personalized time I get to spend with the students, getting to know them better as people and helping them tap into what they want to explore.”

~ Alina de Zoysa ’25 

Each year, Washington and Lee University honors students who exemplify the values of educational equity and service through the Sarah G. Ball Teaching Award, a merit-based recognition that supports graduates committed to teaching in underserved communities. This year’s awardees, Alina de Zoysa ’25 and Henry Chen ’25, are taking a thoughtful, hands-on approach to teaching and mentorship in their respective roles.

The award was established by the Sarah G. Ball Education Award Endowment to support W&L graduates who are entering K-12 teaching, with the aim of strengthening excellent, equitable education for all students. It provides a financial stipend for the first year in the classroom (with the possibility of a second year, contingent on continued teaching and good standing), helping new teachers bridge the financial realities of the early professional years. The merit-based award emphasizes academic preparation, field experience and demonstrated commitment to educational equity and service, aligning recipients’ work with the award’s purpose. Recipients are selected for their academic excellence, field experience and dedication to equity in education.

Alina de Zoysa ’25 is enjoying her role as lead underclassmen adviser for Teen SHARP, a national college-access organization she once attended as a student; she says the experience has brought her full circle.

“I started off as a student in Teen SHARP, so that’s why, for me, it was important to go back to my community,” says de Zoysa, a sociology major with a double minor in education and poverty and human capability studies who will graduate from W&L in December. “I work with ninth- through 11th-graders, helping them prepare for college applications, professional development and leadership. I really enjoy that personalized time I get to spend with the students, getting to know them better as people and helping them tap into what they want to explore.”

For de Zoysa, teaching has never been confined to a single classroom. Her educational journey at W&L has bridged disciplines, policies and continents.

“I really felt like I connected with education once I took a study abroad course with Professor Moffa and Professor Sigler,” she says. “We went to Italy during Spring Term [Moffa and Sigler co-teach a course called “Educating for Global Citizenship: Policies, Practices and Purposes in the U.S. and Italy”] and we taught abroad, and I really felt like my eyes were open to the possibilities of working with students in the classroom.”

That experience, she says, led her to explore education not only as instruction but as advocacy. At W&L, de Zoysa has paired her coursework in education and sociology with hands-on initiatives like her literacy capstone with Waddell Elementary, where she is helping sustain a kindergarten reading program. She’s also delved into education policy through internships with the U.S. Department of Education through the Voyager Scholarship and in D.C. Public Schools. Reflecting on the influences that have shaped her teaching philosophy, de Zoysa credits mentorship above all.

“I received really important mentorship for myself that definitely influenced the way that I wanted to structure my research on how supportive mentorship was important to students’ learning,” she says. “I was a student myself who benefited from that.”

For Chen, teaching Algebra I at Staunton High School this year has been an immersive introduction to life at the front of the classroom. Chen, who double-majored in mathematics and economics with a minor in education studies, approaches his students’ challenges with empathy and determination. Many of his students are retaking the course after struggling with state exams. “I went there with the mindset of being able to really treat them as if they have never learned much math before,” he said. “My top concern — or the most important thing for this class — is to have, hopefully, all the students pass the final Standards of Learning test.”

Although he admits his days can be exhausting, Chen finds joy in seeing his students’ progress.

“I really do feel happy and pleasant while seeing students making progress,” he says. “A couple of students who failed their first test have started to realize that if they apply themselves to the class, they actually don’t find the work as hard as they thought. Once they trust me a little bit more, they start to do the work, and they’re definitely making progress.”

Chen credits his education studies at W&L with giving him a foundation for classroom structure and reflection, though experience, he says, is an irreplaceable teacher.

“I would say being an actual teacher has truly helped me learn how to be a teacher more effectively and efficiently,” he says. “In real classroom settings, it’s kind of tough, but I’m really trying to convince [students] that being able to learn is such an important skill in this upcoming AI world.”

If you know any W&L alumni who would be great profile subjects, tell us about them! Nominate them for a web profile.