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Texas Association of Partners in Education
"Connecting Volunteers, Communities and Businesses to School"
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2008 TAPE
Education Partnership Award Winners
The Texas Association of Partners in Education recognizes exemplary partners and partnership programs annually in seven categories/groups that benefit our schools: Parent Involvement, Community, Corporate/Business, Government Agency, Collegiate, Outstanding Sports, and Media. In addition, Individual Awards are given in four categories: Top Adult Volunteer, Youth Volunteer, Partnership Liaison, and Senior Volunteer. Awards are given to small, medium, and large districts on two levels: Crystal Award—one per district size/category (an engraved crystal vase); and Gold Award—up to three winners per district size/category (a personalized, mounted gold certificate). Nominations are judged by an independent panel of representatives from across Texas.
Looking for Group Awards? click one of the following: Small District to Medium Business or Medium District to Top Media Award
Individual Awards
Texas Top Adult Volunteer
Small District
Gold – Rosa Hernandez, Bastrop ISD, Rosa Hernandez has been instrumental at getting our Hispanic parents more involved in the school. She recruits parents when she gets the opportunity either at school events, phone drives or PTA nights. Rosa works very closely with teachers to ask them what they need parents to do and coordinates her efforts between PTA and the school principals.
Gold – Susan Tucker, Bastrop ISD, Susan Tucker has been a mentor at Lost Pines Elementary for one year. During that time she has had a significant impact on the life of one of her former students. Susan wanted to mentor a student who had been in her first grade class in a prior year. She took on the challenge of working with this student during the school day, and making arrangements to perform additional mentoring activities with the child after school hours, and on weekends.
Crystal – Lucy Stanzel, St. Rose of Lima, Lucy Stanzel was instrumental in bringing the Parents as Teachers (PAT) program to the Schulenburg/Weimar area. In 2002, Lucy, along with another certified parent educator started this early childhood parent education and support program. At the end of the first year, they had 35 families with 54 children enrolled. Today, because of Lucy’s hard work, there are 9 certified parent educators serving some 165 families with 225 children! Lucy works diligently so this program will have a positive impact on student achievement by helping parents become involved in the children’s education.
Medium District
Crystal – Sherry Orona, Lubbock ISD, Mrs. Orona’s willingness to take the JJAEP campus into her heart has been, and continues to be, a wonderful experience for the staff and students. Teachers feel appreciated because they seldom have parents thank them for their efforts. Students have said they are thankful for her. Most of our students often have low-self esteem and believe few individuals truly care about them. Mrs. Orona’s actions are heartfelt and reflect her sincere care for all students.
Large District
Gold – Gary Dante, Fort Bend ISD, The significance of Gary Dante's service is demonstrated by his consistent charitable gestures. Gary never seeks recognition for his good works, and he continues to impact students by providing clothing to those with the greatest need in our district, assistance to teachers through his work with the Fort Bend Education Foundation and financial and in-kind support for district programs.
Gold – Patricia Rosenberg, Communities in Schools Houston, Inc., Pat has led the charge, city-wide, to infuse the 40 Developmental Assets throughout systems—from families and churches, to school districts and legislators, to youth serving agencies and local businesses. Pat has also been instrumental in mentoring students to understand the Assets and share them with other youth. Through Pat’s mentoring, students created their own Assets pages in the Houston Greensheet newspaper. These students share the message about the Assets with other youth and adults in their communities through public speaking and other youth-led activities.
Large District
Gold – Robert LeBlanc, Northside ISD, over the course of 10 years, Robert LeBlanc has mentored one student. For most mentors that is not much to boast about, but Mr. Le Blanc is unique since the mentee has been the same student year after year.
The impact of the Mr. LeBlanc and his devotion to one student is that student graduated from high school. For most students graduation is a taken for granted, but for Chris, Mr. LeBlanc’s mentee it was a dream come true.
Crystal – Lisa Underwood, Cypress Fairbanks ISD, Lisa has been an outstanding volunteer for many years. She puts in hundreds of hours a month. Lisa gives the gift of her time by assisting teachers and students at Emmott Elementary as a mentor, with Junior Achievement, and a workroom volunteer.
Texas Top Youth Volunteer Award
Small District
Gold – Carra Chabot, Bastrop ISD, Ms. Carra Chabot is a student volunteer from Bastrop High School, who participates in the Ready, Set, Teach program. She takes the initiative to work closely with each student under the close supervision of the classroom teacher. Carra is highly organized, motivating, and very effective as a role model for our students.
Crystal – Max Brown, Bastrop ISD, Max Brown, a current Senior at Bastrop High School, is a dynamic spark of intelligence and compassion. Max mentored two at-risk boys last year at Lost Pines Elementary and he was instrumental in creating and leading four workshops; teaching over one hundred middle school students activities that help build good character at the 13th Annual Middle School PAL Conference.
Large District
Gold – Sophie Richardson, Houston ISD, Sophie Richardson has been a devoted volunteer at Helms Community Learning Center since 1994 when she was five years old. After school and weekends, Sophie would indulge her interest in gardening and animals by volunteering to pull weeds, water the garden, clean cages, or feed the fish in the aquariums.
Crystal – Andrea Sanchez, Fort Bend ISD, Andrea Sanchez, is a young person who places a high value on helping others. She willingly gives of her time to volunteer in social, instructional and charitable volunteer efforts. Andrea provides private flute lessons to middle school students two weeks each month, volunteers in the Save Dafur Campaign, to help raise awareness of the ongoing genocide in Sudan.
Texas Top Partnership Liaison
Medium District
Gold – Aiyana Henry, Waco ISD, Mrs. Henry has done more then imaginable to take ALL the partnerships at this school from literally non-existent to flourishing and award winning. Due to her hard work and ceaseless dedication, the partners have helped increase parental involvement, motivated students to improve their attendance, encouraged teachers to keep up the great work, taught students the value of service, opened student’s minds to career possibilities and created an unshakable bond between South Waco elementary and the surrounding community.
Gold – Nancy Neal, Lubbock ISD, Wheatley Elementary is a lower socio-economic school. The majority of the students do not have the opportunities in the Lubbock community that some might call normal. Nancy Neal works with the community to provide these students with those experiences which bolsters their self-esteem. She volunteers her time in order to endure no student is left out.
Crystal – Bob Smith, Beaumont ISD, Bob is the Partnership Liaison from Englobal Engineering, Inc. who works with the company’s partner school, Austin Middle School and other district initiatives. For the past five years, Bob has shared his expertise in math and science with the students at Austin, giving at least 50 hours of service each year tutoring struggling students or recruiting his fellow engineers to give at least one hour a week working with kids.
Large District
Crystal – Mary Kiernan, Fort Bend ISD, Mary Kiernan has spent the past 10 years working to ensure the health and safety of students at all grade levels (K-12) through various programs and activities. She has led schools in activities to teach students and adults about the five major risk factors that contribute to cardiovascular disease; has helped spread awareness of teen dating violence by leading presentations and discussions at high schools; helped encourage students to live tobacco-free lives; has also helped promote respect for diversity, and led programs to address bullying and poison prevention education for parents.
Texas Top Senior Volunteer Award
Small District
Crystal – Dorothy Brooks, Waxahachie ISD, Dorothy Brooks has volunteered for the past 4 years at Marvin Elementary, the WISD Kindergarten Campus, beginning in the 2003-2004 school year in the special needs classroom. She has volunteered over 3,000 hours over these past years. At age 83 she walks several blocks and across a busy intersection to her destination to volunteer at Marvin each day.
Large District
Gold – Nettie Clark, Fort Bend ISD, Since 2002, she has willingly given of her time and has held volunteer positions as VIPS Coordinator and treasurer of the school’s Parent Teacher Organization for several years. She motivates parents and other guardians to become more involved with their children and continues to provide support for the students and staff at Willowridge High School. Ms. Clark is a role model for parents at Willowridge and in her community because she leads by example.
Gold – Linda Taylor, Houston, ISD, Throughout her years as a volunteer, Mrs. Taylor has assisted with everything from nurse and library assistant, to school volunteer coordinator, tutor, surrogate mother, co-chaired fund raising projects, and office aide.
The volunteer services she has provided ensure that students are healthy, have access to literacy enrichment, have academic support when needed and funds to support new campus initiatives.
Crystal – Robert Zemcik, Cypress Fairbanks ISD, This exceptional man has led an extraordinary life, but at the age of 81 he is doing his best life’s work in touching the hearts, minds, and lives of America’s future. Over the last two years, he has mentored many children, sometimes working with as many as six children in weekly one-on-one sessions! He manages to juggle their complicated school schedules to make it work, and he would never disappoint his boys by not seeing every child each week.
406 East 11th Street, Austin Texas, 78701 | Phone: 512-473-8377 | Fax: 512-323-6762