Recognizing Our Graduates

Joelisse Galarza was recently promoted to National Director of Mental Health & Emotional Learning for Idea Public Schools during the 2022-2023 school year. 

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Cristina Smith received the 2022-2023 Teacher of the Year Award at Jim Barnes Middle School, Seguin ISD. She was also awarded the Seguin ISD 2022-2023 Secondary Teacher of the Year. 

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Pamela Hernandez is excited to be leading the opening and serving as the school Director for Montessori Kids Universe Stone Oak. The school is slated to open this Fall, August 2023, and serve infants to 6 years of age. She encourages families to explore their options as the beauty of education today is CHOICE. 

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Sandra Lafferty was awarded the 2022-2023 Distinguished Educator of the Year Award for Salinas Elementary, JISD. This honor is given to teachers who embody the spirit and commitment that produces educational excellence. 

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Alea Welch was designated Exemplary by TEA and was awarded the Teacher Incentive Allotment for the 2022-2023 school year. This honor is awarded to top-performing teachers within their district and celebrates teachers with compensation and recognition through teacher designations. 

Ami Giguere is a teacher at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Northside Independent School District. She received the 2022-2023 Teacher of the of the Year Award. 

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Luisafernanda Gutierrez is a 3rd-grade bilingual teacher at Langley Elementary in Northside Independent School District. She received the 2020-2021 First-Year Educator of the Year Award at Langley Elementary. 

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Robert Anderson is a 9th-grade teacher at O’Connor High School in Northside Independent School District. He was awarded the 2020-2021 Article of the Year by the Texas High School Coaches Association.


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Alejandro Flores III BA ’10 is the 2020-2021 Teacher of the Year at St. Anthony Catholic High School. He teaches Spanish I and II and Mexican American Chicano Studies. Flores is a Class of 2006 graduate of St. Anthony Catholic High School. He was selected for his efforts to make every student feel welcome and for challenging them to soar to new heights.

Leslie Holland is a junior and senior ELAR teacher at Brooks Collegiate Academy. She received the highest STAAR mastery percentage in the district for her 8th-grade class and her first year of teaching in 2017. Holland is pursuing her EdD degree at Creighton University.

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Graviel Aleman is an elementary physical education teacher at Steele Montessori Academy and assistant football and baseball coach at Highlands High School in San Antonio Independent School District. He is a Rising Star New Teacher of the Year nominee for the 2017-2018 school year.

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Christina Rivera, a choir director at Southwest Independent School District, along with her students in the Scobee Middle School Treble Choir and Ronald McNair Middle School Tenor-Bass Choir received the 2019 Sweepstakes Award in 1st Division Ratings for Concert and Sight Reading and 2019 1st Division in Concert Performance at the UIL Concert & Sight-Reading Evaluation. The awards were the first music sweepstakes in Southwest Independent School District history.

Annalisa Mayhan, third-grade teacher at Rolling Meadows Elementary in Judson Independent School District, received the 2018-2019 Novice Teacher Award. This award recognizes and honors new teachers that show excellence in the classroom with their students.

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Cynthia Werner, kindergarten teacher at Mission Academy in San Antonio Independent School District, received the Rising Star Award. She graduated summa cum laude from UIW and received her Bachelor of Arts in Interdisciplinary Studies with minors in reading and special education.

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Joey Ramiez, eighth-grade ELA teacher at Irving Middle School in San Antonio ISD, received the Teacher of the Month award.

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Marina Zuniga-Johnson, fifth-grade teacher at Woodlake Elementary School, received the 2018 Distinguished Educators award in Judson ISD for her work.

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Sarah Harred, third-grade teacher at East Central ISD, received the 2018 District Teacher of the Year Award. Sarah was also nominated for the Texas Association of School Administrators (TASA) 2019 Teacher of the Year.

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