NATCHEZ — Few words accurately describe Denise Thibodeaux’s summer.

Amazing is one. Invigorating is another.

In between an 18-hour trip with her Cathedral School students to the National Science Olympiad in Dayton, Ohio, and learning some of the newest techniques in teaching at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, Thibodeaux was honored with two awards.

At the end of July. Thibodeaux was selected as Mississippi’s Outstanding Biology Teacher of the Year for 2017.

The award is part of a National Association of Biology Teachers (NABT) program that attempts to identify excellent biology instructors in each of the 50 U.S. states, Canada, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories.

“I was absolutely shocked,” Thibodeaux said. “There are so many other biology teachers I know and see regularly. To be included among those teachers is a huge honor for me.”

Nominated for the award in the spring, Thibodeaux said she was happy to be considered, but did not think she would win the award.

As part of the application for the award, Thibodeaux had to submit a 1,000-word essay and submit a video.

“The video really stressed me out,” she said.

Rita Beane, from the Cathedral development office, and her husband Bill Beane allayed Thibodeaux’s worries.

“I credit the two of them with winning the award,” she said. “They were so helpful.”

Thibodeaux will travel with her husband Dan in November to the NABT conference in  St. Louis to accept the award.

The teacher of the year award was just one of the honors Thibodeaux received this summer.

At the National Science Olympiad in May, Thibodeaux was honored as one of the Olympiad’s Coaching Excellence Awards, given to two middle school and two high school coaches from the national science competition.

Thibodeaux brought 16 Cathedral students to compete in the competition with teams from across the country.

Thibodeaux and her students were unable to stay for the awards ceremony because they had to get back to Natchez for the school baccalaureate ceremony for the 2017 graduating class.

Unable to see the live stream broadcast on their phones as they were traveling back to Mississippi on the bus, Thibodeaux and her students did not find out about the award until messages started pouring in.

“The students started cheering,” she said. “It was a tremendous shock.”

As part of the award, Thibodeaux received a trip to the Science Olympiad Summer Institute in Phoenix in July. She went with Cathedral teachers Jessie Wallace and Lashon Brown.

One month into her 12th year of teaching at Cathedral, Thibodeaux said she feels reinvigorated by what she calls her “roller-coaster summer.”

“(The awards) have made me more enthusiastic and more determined to be worthy of these honors,” she said.

Thibodeaux said she is thankful for all of the support she has received, especially to those who wrote letters of recommendation. Their words of encouragement make her want to be an even better science teacher, she said.

“I want to be worthy of the faith that has been placed in me,” she said.