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ATPE’s Charles Pickitt Educators of the Year
MEET THE
CHARLES PICKITT EDUCATORS OF THE YEAR
The Charles Pickitt Educator of the Year Awards recognize ATPE members who demonstrate exceptional or innovative capabilities in their respective educational fields. This year’s winners were honored during the 2021 ATPE Virtual Summit. ATPE reached out to the award winners to learn more about their careers in public education.
ADMINISTRATOR OF THE YEAR:
DR. SYLVESTER “BRUCE” WILSON
The 2021 Administrator of the Year award was presented to Dr. Sylvester “Bruce” Wilson of Corpus Christi ISD. Bruce serves as the Executive Director of School Leadership and has only been in this role for five months, but he has been an ATPE member for the past 11 years during his time as the principal of Roy Miller High School.
The 2021 Secondary Educator of the Year Award was presented to Kimberly Grosenbacher of Boerne ISD. The 2021-22 school year marks Kimberly’s 20th year as a government teacher. Currently, she teaches AP/dual credit U.S. government and politics and U.S. government at Samuel V. Champion High School. She has been an ATPE member for almost 20 years.
What is your favorite part of your job? My favorite part of my current job is the opportunity to enhance leadership, teaching, and learning experiences for principals, teachers, and students throughout the district. Having served as the principal of elementary, middle, and high schools, I am able to bring a perspective to discussions to positively impact all levels. Having former students, teachers, and principals tell me that I impacted their lives is such a blessing. What is the most important thing you
wish someone had told you when you started out in your career?
I wish someone would have told me that homeless students include families living doubled-up with others or in hotels. I could have helped so many other students instead of only thinking the homeless strugglers without resources were in shelters. There are so many community partners that are ready to support schools by providing students with opportunities to attend events and have experiences to somewhat level the playing field.
Share your favorite moment as
an educator.
My favorite moment as an educator was when I received this award from ATPE. I was completely caught off guard. On another note, I created a “First in Family” annual reception for all seven high schools in our district to recognize students who are the first in their families to graduate. I secured scholarship funds for two students from each school. Nine years later, I still get to enjoy the moments when the ceremony is held and the scholarships are presented to “First in Family” graduates.
What is the most important thing you
wish someone had told you when you started out in your career?
That the teaching workday does not end when the school dismissal bell rings. Teachers work countless hours outside of the normal school day, and most of the American public is not really aware of these work efforts.
What is the most important thing Texas
educators can do for their profession?
Join ATPE to have a voice and learn more about the political process that impacts our profession. I have been attending the ATPE Summit for years now, and I learn so much at the House of Delegates. I enjoy voting on issues and voting for candidates running for ATPE state office. When I teach my students about participating in government, I talk about ATPE and the impact they have on legislators when it comes to education.
Share your favorite moment as
an educator.
In 2017, I learned one of my former students from my first year of teaching was clerking for Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer. I was so excited that I reached out and asked if we could meet for coffee when she was back in Boerne so I could learn about her experience. Instead, she suggested I come to Washington, D.C. for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Supreme Court, to attend a Supreme Court session, and to meet Justice Breyer. I was beyond excited about the opportunity and agreed to the visit after the school year ended. In June, I traveled to D.C. and spent the morning at the Supreme Court. I was in awe as I sat and listened to the nine Supreme Court justices deliver court opinions. I have taught the Supreme Court proceedings to my students for almost 20 years, and on that day, I was able to experience live what I had been teaching for so long. Denise, my former student, gave me a personal tour, including the prestigious Supreme Court basketball court, which is referred to as the highest court in the land. Lastly, she took me to meet Justice Breyer, who spoke so highly of Denise and graciously signed my pocket U.S. Constitution and took a picture with me. This was truly an amazing opportunity made possible by my former student.
ASSOCIATE EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR:
MADONNA FELAN
The 2021 Associate Educator of the Year Award was presented to Madonna Felan of Northside (20) ISD. Madonna has been a substitute teacher for the past three years after retiring from public education. She has been an ATPE member for 15 years.
What made you want to be an educator? My mother was a teacher, and she enjoyed her job. I wanted to be a teacher but was hesitant. I joined the military and received a bachelor’s in accounting. When my spouse received orders to Panama, I joined him along with our two children. While there, I had the opportunity to teach at a private Panamanian school. I enjoyed it so much, and then I knew teaching was my calling. When we returned to the United States, I went back to college and became a certified teacher! I loved teaching so much that I became a substitute teacher after retiring!
What is your favorite part of your job? My favorite part of being a substitute teacher is getting to meet so many great students and educators! I learn so much from being in different classrooms and different grade levels.
What is the most important thing
Texas educators can do for their profession?
Educators need to advocate for public education. They need to speak positively about their profession when in public. Encourage future educators by sharing the positive experiences of being an educator. Connect with legislators to provide input on legislation that is in the best interest of the students and supports public education. Most important of all, vote for legislators who will do what is best for public education!
Submit Your Nominations for the 2021-22 ATPE Awards!
Every year, ATPE honors outstanding Texas educators, ATPE leaders, and friends of Texas public schools. Recognize a colleague who changes lives and inspires excellence by nominating them for an ATPE Educator of the Year Award. Highlight the work of a local unit by nominating them for Local Unit of the Year, or nominate an outstandingATPE volunteer for Campus Representative of the Year.
Visit atpe.org/Submit-ATPE-Award-Nominations for details and links to nomination forms. Don’t delay—the nomination deadline for the Educator of the Year Awards is Dec. 1.
ELEMENTARY EDUCATOR OF THE YEAR:
SALLY HUNTER
The 2021 Elementary Educator of the Year Award went to Sally Hunter of Austin ISD. Sally started teaching and became an ATPE member in August 1980 and has taught kindergarten, first, second, third, and fourth grades at schools in Houston and Austin. Most of her career has been spent at Highland Park Elementary. ATPE reached out to Sally to get her thoughts on the future of Texas public education.
What made you want to be an educator? I first shared why I decided to become an educator back in 1980 during an interview with a hiring principal. At the time, I told her I loved working with children and knew from watching my mother, who taught kindergarten for 43 years, that teaching was a rewarding career. Those reasons are still true, but I quickly realized my passion for being an educator has much deeper roots. Some of the most important moments in the world take place between teachers and students in classrooms everywhere, every day. My work as an educator allows me to not only experience those moments with my students, but also to influence and encourage other teachers who share powerful moments with students in their own classrooms.
As a teacher, I have the privilege of teaching the whole child and helping lay the foundation for their life as an adult. I have the opportunity to share observations and experiences with the parents and impact the entire family. I help each student to understand their strengths and how to fully use them. Who could say teachers are not powerful?
As a teacher, my influence will go on into the future, long after I have retired. These past few years, I have had the great pleasure of teaching across the hall from a talented young man I taught when he was in third grade. Connections with students and families can last a lifetime. Who could say that teaching is not fulfilling?
As a teacher, I can take the stage and perform if needed. I can burst into song, and 20 voices join me or share laughter over inside jokes. I can give students the stage and witness the amazing fourth grade year when students are old enough to explore the world but still young enough to love their teacher. I have the joy of helping precious second graders and sharing their wonder in exploring who they are and how they relate to those around them. Who could say that teaching is not fun?
My 40 years of experience confirm that, for me, there is no profession more essential and fulfilling.
What is your biggest hope for the
future of Texas public schools?
I am struck by the reality that schools today require teachers to become skilled performers in an increasingly complex and critical balancing act. Schools are overwhelmed with government mandates, liability-inspired paperwork, overemphasis on high-stakes testing, and the bureaucratic tendency to jump on new ideas and methods simply because they are new. Evaluating schools, teachers, and students has become a checklist of what is easiest to test, rather than what will prepare individual students to become confident, active, productive citizens.
Texas leaders and administrators at every level must refocus priorities to support teachers as they work to restore the balance of their time and energy back on what is most important—teaching students. Teachers need that support and the freedom to help each individual learner develop crucial connections: • Connections to their own strengths through family, culture, and heritage. • Connections to the people, struggles, and accomplishments of the past. • Connections to the power they have to impact their community, state, and nation. • Connections to the future through their own dreams and actions today.
Without these essential connections, students will never reach their full potential or have truly successful and satisfying adult lives, no matter how skilled they become in taking reading, math, and science tests.
My biggest hope for the future of our public schools is that Texas will empower districts and teachers to tip the instructional scales in students’ favor by creating learning environments in which these connections are inevitable. Teachers who
provide the structure and flexibility for students to explore the world and apply their discoveries in creative and meaningful ways. Teachers who train students to work together, build on one another’s ideas, respectfully disagree with one another, and provide supporting evidence for their ideas and perspectives. Teachers who encourage students to set and pursue their own goals while helping them develop strategies to achieve those goals.
Students must understand themselves and their power in the world before they can begin to understand the rich and amazing possibilities the world has to offer them.
—Sally Hunter, Teacher, Austin ISD
SPECIAL SERVICES MEMBER OF THE YEAR:
DR. AUDREY YOUNG
The 2021 Special Services Member of the year award was presented to Dr. Audrey Young of Nacogdoches ISD. Audrey serves as the Director of Student Support Services. Although she has only been in this role for four years, Audrey has been a public educator for the past 27 years! Also, in November 2020, she was elected to the State Board of Education representing District 8. ATPE reached out to Audrey to find out what she has enjoyed most throughout her career.
What is your favorite part of your job? Most recently, I have worked closely with the Dyslexia Parent Group of Conroe and the Kitchen Table Moms of the Dallas Metroplex during the 87th legislation and am a major supporter for the special education community! I have provided several legislative updates, participated in an unimaginable number of virtual and faceto-face meetings related to refreshing the Dyslexia Handbook, and continue to fight tirelessly for the rights of all children. My number one passion is special education.
What is the most important thing you
wish someone had told you when you started out in your career?
These are critical times for public education, fraught with successes and challenges. I find deep satisfaction in energetically confronting tough educational issues and working collegially to resolve them. I just wish someone would have warned me I’d be “walking uphill both ways.”
What is the most important thing
Texas educators can do for their profession?
For me, the most important thing is to be: • A passionate educator who believes that all students can thrive in a learning environment that is stimulating and appropriate to their unique talents and abilities. • A transformer of school programs through collaborative planning, curriculum management, grant funding, and communication with the community. • An instructional leader that subscribes to a balance of motivational and targeted instruction methodologies as part of enhancing curricula while focusing on the three ‘R’s: rigor, relevance, and relationships. • An advocate for students to enroll in and become a successful student and develop to their fullest extent. • A visionary for integrating best practices, research, cultural and educational needs of students with the community and stakeholders. • A supporter of all students, staff, and teachers. Share a fun fact about yourself! I am the 9th generation of the Rose family to reside in Texas! My family is recognized by the Texas State Historical Society as a Texas First Family. My family member, John Washington Rose, was elected to the very first Texas Legislature in 1846, representing Victoria County. Following the legacy of the Rose family, 175 years later, I now serve as an elected state official. My great (x7) grandfather was known as “Hell Roaring Rose,” a War of 1812 veteran and a leader in the Regulator-Moderator War. Rose was accused of shooting and killing Senator Robert Potter in 1842 at Caddo Lake. Their mutual contempt for each other ran deeper than politics as, according to family tradition, Potter’s unsuccessful attempts to pay court to the attractive daughters of the Rose family also caused some conflict. The news of Potter’s death was reported in both Texas and United States newspapers, and Charles Dickens, who was then on his American tour, commented on it in his American Notes. Because feelings were running so high, the case was removed to Nacogdoches on a change of venue. Gen. Thomas J. Rusk came from Austin to defend his friend Rose, and the case was dismissed for lack of evidence. Fast forward 176 years—in 2018, I walked into a Nacogdoches Bank and met an employee by the name of Thomas Potter. After exchanging a few polite words, I decided to ask Potter if he was of the Robert Potter family and much to my surprise, he was, to which I replied “then I guess I owe you an apology 176 years in the making—I’m sorry that my great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather shot and killed your great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather.“ To which Potter replied, “You must be of the Rose family, apology accepted.” It truly is a small, small world.
—Dr. Audrey Young, Director of Student Support Services, Nacogdoches ISD
