Recipients of Awards Presented at Leader U 

Local Units with 1-500 Members

Ma Elena Ingram
McAllen ATPE
As the campus representative at McAllen ISD’s DeLeon Middle School, Ma Elena Ingram makes sure her colleagues know how much they’re appreciated. Ingram purchases ATPE promo items and distributes them throughout the year. During Teacher Appreciation Week in May, she passed out insulated ATPE lunch bags that contained bottles of water and other munchies.

Local Units with 501-1,000 Members

Toni Martin
Forney ATPE
In addition to serving as the campus rep at Forney ISD’s Rhea Elementary, Toni Martin was an active participant in her local unit’s effort to recruit more associate-category members. She spoke about ATPE and its services during a district- wide meeting of bus drivers at the beginning of the 2008-09 school year.

Local Units with 1,001-plus Members

Diane Nix
Mesquite ATPE
Diane Nix, the campus representative at Mesquite ISD’s Motley Elementary School, starts the school year by holding small group meetings with new staff members on her campus. She gives a short slide presentation about ATPE and helps each new member complete his membership application at that time.

University Local Units

Schreiner University ATPE
Region 20
Chartered in 2002
27 members
2008-09 officers: President Lea Hayes, Vice President Rachel Calloway, Secretary Lindsey Jaeger, Treasurer Brenda Wallace, Past President Regina Solis, Public Relations/Membership Chair Gerald Robinson, and sponsors Karen Backor and Carol Errett

Local Units with 1-500 Members

Nacogdoches ATPE
Region 7
Chartered in 1983
227 members
2008-09 officers: President Katherine Whitbeck, Secretary Dawn Pierce, Treasurer Lisa Fuller and Membership Chair Paula Kline

Local Units with 501-1,000 Members

Forney ATPE
Region 10
Chartered in 1994
518 members
2008-09 officers: President Stephanie Rabon, Vice President Cindy Adair, Secretary Kelly Chilton and Treasurer Barbara Melillo

Local Units with 1,001-plus Members

Mesquite ATPE
Region 10
Chartered in 1982
2,389 members
2008-09 officers: President Melissa McGee, Vice President Brian Kinsworthy, Secretary April Coker, Treasurer Jeffery Blackwell, Membership Chair Rhoda Hokanson and Past President Marnie Cushing

Lynn Allen - Robinson ATPE
Lynn Allen is dedicated to grassroots political involvement at the local, state and federal levels. As president of her ATPE local unit, she regularly meets with Robinson ISD’s superintendent and assistant superintendent to discuss issues such as fingerprinting, security/privacy issues and leave for professional conferences. She frequently communicates with Rep. Doc Anderson (R–Waco) and Sen. Kip Averitt (R–Waco) on ATPE priority issues. During the 2008 primary elections, she attended her party’s precinct convention. Allen also actively participated in the formulation of her party’s platform at the county level.

 Local Units with
1-500 Members

 Local Units with
501-1,000 Members

 Local Units with
  1,000-plus Members 

2008-09 Grant for Teaching Excellence Award Recipients

Each year, ATPE awards two $1,000 grants—one to an elementary educator and one to a secondary educator— through the Grant for Teaching Excellence (GTE) program. The GTE program funds innovative classroom projects and was created in 1986 to honor Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died in the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
 

Yvette Hernandez
Ysleta Elementary, Ysleta ISD

The elementary recipient, Yvette Hernandez of Ysleta ISD in El Paso, used her grant to purchase the resources necessary to open her school’s language media course to students in grades three through five.

Hernandez’s campus, Ysleta Elementary, offers language media as an accelerated course for students who have English language acquisition needs. (More than 68 percent of students on the campus have limited English proficiency.) Students in the course strengthen their language skills by using iPod Shuffles, headphones and other equipment to produce podcasts and iMovies for the school’s Web page.

Before Hernandez received the ATPE grant, the language media course was available only to sixth-graders. Thanks to the GTE program, third- through fifth-graders were able to spend their Saturdays at school participating in this learning experience.

“The need to extend the language media course for students in the lower grades is critical,” Hernandez wrote in her application. “In sixth grade, students are faced with having to test for the first time in English.”

Sandra Bounds
Mance Park Middle School, Huntsville ISD

The secondary recipient, Sandra Bounds of Huntsville ISD, used her grant to purchase a document camera and projector for everyday use in her classroom at Mance Park Middle School.

Bounds gave her project the title “Show and Tell” because the equipment allows her students to demonstrate the reading and writing strategies they are using and to tell their classmates why they chose the strategies. In 2008-09, most of Bounds’ students were far below grade level in their reading and writing, and five were brand-new English Language Learners.

“[We can] project anything we read or write so every student can follow the ‘thinking’ even if they are not able to follow the reading,” Bounds wrote in her application. “The goal is for students to be on grade level in reading and writing by the end of the year. I know this is ambitious, but if we aim high, we will see the best results possible from students who have not been successful for many years.”