Five educators were recently presented with Charles Pickitt Educator of the Year Awards by the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE) during the 2021 ATPE Summit, which was held virtually this year July 12–15.

“The Charles Pickitt Educator of the Year Award is a way for ATPE, as the largest educator association in Texas, to highlight and recognize the significant contributions of our members to the profession,” said Shannon Holmes, ATPE Executive Director. “This year’s recipients serve as exemplars of teaching and educational excellence. They have provided Texas children with the highest quality of education and done so in unique and novel ways—an impressive achievement in normal times, but especially so in these trying ones.”

The Charles Pickitt Educator of the Year Awards—named after founding ATPE member Charles Pickitt—annually recognize ATPE members who demonstrate exceptional or otherwise innovative capabilities in their respective educational fields. This year’s recipients each received a $5,000 cash prize along with their award.

This year’s Charles Pickitt Educators of the Year are:

• Administrator of the Year: Dr. Bruce Wilson, Corpus Christi ISD
• Associate of the Year: Madonna Felan, Northside (20) ISD
• Elementary Teacher of the Year: Sarah “Sally” Hunter, Austin ISD
• Secondary Teacher of the Year: Kimberly Grosenbacher, Boerne ISD
• Special Services of the Year: Dr. Audrey G. Young, Nacogdoches ISD

The award recipients were honored during the 2021 ATPE Summit, which was streamed online to ATPE members across Texas. With nearly 100,000 members statewide, ATPE is the largest association for professional educators in Texas and serves as a major voice for public education.

In addition to recognizing outstanding members and educators, ATPE leaders and members from each of the association’s 20 regions annually take part in the ATPE Summit to vote on a number of new initiatives for the association, elect and formally induct new state officers, and train new volunteers. This year, as the second-ever virtual ATPE Summit, the association made use of state-of-the-art technology and partnerships to provide its members with a top-tier virtual conference experience from the comforts of their home.

Throughout the ATPE Summit, ATPE attendees also had the opportunity to earn hours of continuing professional education credit, virtually collaborate with fellow educators on several education-related initiatives, and also gain new insights into the state of public education in Texas today from ATPE’s experienced staff.

For more information about ATPE’s prestigious awards, visit atpe.org/About-ATPE/Awards. To learn more about ATPE Summit, visit www.atpesummit.org.

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About the Association of Texas Professional Educators (ATPE)
Founded in 1980, ATPE is the leading educators’ association in Texas with approximately 100,000 members statewide. With its strong collaborative philosophy, ATPE speaks for classroom teachers, administrators, and future, retired, and para-educators and works to create better opportunities for Texas’ five million public school students.