Creating a welcoming environment for students

There was never a moment when Josh Thompson ‘12, M.A. Ed ‘13,  M.A. ‘15, didn’t want to be a teacher. The profession compelled him.

Even when he was a student, he acted like a teacher, making sure to help his peers whenever he could.

Now, with seven years of teaching experience behind him, he’s helping students in more ways than ever before, giving rural and queer youths a chance to fully express themselves in an educational environment. For these efforts, he received a national award and the opportunity to lead a Virginia Tech study abroad opportunity.

Thompson found he was able to create environments that were welcoming for a wide variety of students during his tenure as a high school English teacher, culminating at Blacksburg High School. Allowing students to read what they wanted during independent reading was one of the ways he accomplished this.

“It’s about offering students choice,” Thompson said. “It’s about making them okay with being in the classroom and making them feel seen through the books they read. It’s absolutely imperative.”

For his work, he was recognized by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) when he won its LGBTQIA+ Advocacy and Leadership Award in 2025.  

Thompson currently is pursuing his doctorate in the School of Education’s English education program. His Ph.D. research is focused on creating a course with an embedded study abroad program in Switzerland. Through the Center for Rural Education at Virginia Tech, he is focusing on rural students. The course highlights where students are from, how it shapes their identity, and how it guides them to follow their own paths in life. 

“Taking them to a different place from the one they’re familiar with makes them think about their identity as a rural student,” Thompson said. “As one of the leaders of this program, I want to ask students what rural is outside of America. Place just has such a dynamic relationship with education and learning.”

When Thompson started his Ph.D. program, the Center for Rural Education at Virginia Tech had just been established.

“Because I grew up in a rural area, I didn’t think those areas were something that needed attention at first. To me, that’s just how it was,” Thompson said. “It was my world, so I didn’t recognize how important it was to help improve it, or how I could improve it. It wasn’t immediately obvious to me that rural education was a field I could study.”

Thompson said that rural schools can be places of oppression for gay, trans, and non-binary students. He believes that it’s important to celebrate these students and their uniqueness.

He said that rural schools can be underfunded and under-resourced. Instead, Thompson wants to focus on the strengths of the people that reside within these rural communities.

“Rural people are some of the most resourceful people you will ever meet,” Thompson said.

Along with his teaching aspirations, he is finding other ways to support students at Virginia Tech. As a past president and current member of the Distinguished Alumni Board at Virginia Tech, he is interacting with the current generation of students following in his footsteps.

Thompson believes there is something special about Virginia Tech as a university, especially the Department of English.

“The faculty care about and want to support you,” he said. “The world is moving at such a rapid pace, so we’re going to need humanists, we’re going to need people who know how to bring others together, and that’s English. That’s the value of a liberal arts education. Big companies don’t see the value in reading or analyzing books and poetry, but they rely on English majors to write and communicate for them. There’s something to be said for just how important English is there.”

No matter what kind of classroom he leads, rural or otherwise, Thompson will always stress the power English has to create a welcoming and safe environment.

“Everyone's perspectives – where they grew up, what they’re interested in, the paths they choose in life – they’re all unique,” Thompson said. “Everyone’s stories deserve to be heard, no matter who we are, and English is the key to that.” 

By Max McNamara, professional and technical writing major