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By MEGAN MIDDLETON
Staff Writer

Two Tyler ISD teachers will be recognized as the district’s elementary and secondary teachers of the year during the annual Teacher of the Year banquet Tuesday.

The banquet will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Harvey Convention Center.

Twenty-eight teachers are named as campus Teacher of the Year and will attend the banquet Tuesday to find out who rose to the top to be recognized as the top educator among elementary teachers and secondary teachers.

Last year, Lana Hood, a physics teacher at Robert E. Lee High School, was named Secondary Teacher of the Year while Brenda Orbaugh, a kindergarten teacher at Jones Elementary, was named Elementary Teacher of the Year.

Ms. Hood said the timing of the banquet couldn’t be better for teachers who, by this point in the school year, are exhausted.

“This is the time of the year that teachers are feeling stressed out to the maximum,” she said. “…We’re worn out. We’re tired. To have this banquet this time of year, it really reaffirms why we’re in the profession. It’s a reminder of why we do the things we do. A lot of times teaching is a thankless job and you don’t realize the difference you make in a kid’s life.”

She said since becoming Teacher of the Year, students had come out of the woodwork to tell her what a difference she made in their lives.

“Having this type of honor, it really does make you feel good and it’s really nice,” she said.

Ms. Orbaugh said that the biggest surprise to her was even though she always worked very hard to do her best, “Once I received that honor, I felt inclined to work even harder. It was a real motivator for me.”

Listening to the interviews of the candidates for this year’s honors, Ms. Orbaugh said she thought it was encouraging to know “there are a lot of really good people out there who are doing really good things.”

“Sometimes the only recognition they get is from their students and from the notes they get from a parent or from the pat on the back they get from a principal,” she said. “But it’s nice to be recognized in sort of a big way.”

Ms. Hood, who was also part of the selection committee which conducted interviews with this year’s nominees, said there were a lot of wonderful things going on at TISD.

“There’s some innovative teachers out there and they are working extremely hard and all of these people that were nominated, they really are winners because they were chosen by their respective faculties,” she said. “And it is an honor for them as well as for all of us to be able to realize what they do in the classroom.”

This year’s campus teachers of the year include:

Austin Elementary — Tracy Nash, first grade

Bell Elementary — Lisa Brown, third grade

Birdwell Elementary — Jan Thedford, Reading Recovery

Bonner Elementary — Heather Gentry, art

Caldwell Elementary — Yvonne Malmstrom, third grade

Clarkston Elementary — Stephanie Attebery, fifth grade

Dixie Elementary — Connie Wood, Reading Recovery

Douglas Elementary — Kemle Barroso, first grade bilingual

Griffin Elementary — Lisia Hampton, fifth grade

Jack Elementary — Tamara Colston, fourth grade

Jones Elementary — Linda Swindle, second grade

Orr Elementary — Lynda Simpkins, resource

Owens Elementary — Kelley Smithson, first grade

Peete Elementary — Sharon Christopher, fourth grade

Ramey Elementary — Sha’Lindria Mariah Wade, third grade

Rice Elementary — Stephen Ellis, fifth grade

St. Louis School — Brooke Parker, Life Skills

TARGET — Kay Newberry, elementary Advanced Studies

Woods Elementary — Robin Stidham, physical education

Boulter Middle School — Joel Enge, sixth-grade science facilitator

Dogan Middle School — Elizabeth Lade, art

Hogg Middle School — Tom Rhodes, sixth-grade math and AVID

Hubbard Middle School — Julie Haley, seventh-grade reading/language arts

Moore MST Middle School — Brian Persinger, assistant band director

Stewart Middle School — Christolyn Milligan, choir

John Tyler High School — John Seiple, ninth- and tenth-grade English as a Second Language

Plyler Instructional Complex — Dee Lower, elementary Disciplinary Alternative Education Program

Robert E. Lee High School — Leona May, culinary arts