Houston: Year Two

We only have 2 weeks of school left! The seniors are finishing up their finals today. It has been a great year! I got nominated for my second regional Emmy for the story I did on Howard Chandler in Poland. I flew to Pittsburgh in September for the ceremony. I didn't win this time, but it was a nice. One of my seniors, Ashley Vasquez, did win a Lone Star Emmy Student Production Award for her documentary from last school year called 'Now or Never'. I was very proud of her. This year my journalist students completed two documentaries, recorded their 200th podcast, and did their first news packages. Nightline anchor Juju Chang and Holocaust survivor Ruth Steinfeld spoke to the students. It was pretty neat. I almost forgot! I got named teacher of the year at Spring Woods High School and I was also named district secondary teacher of the year! They had the banquet to honor all the teachers of the year last Friday. I took my dad. This summer I will be heading to Hungary and Serbia with the non-profit Centropa to learn more about the Holocaust and Jewish culture. I also made a trip to Corpus Christi and stopped by the Selena Museum. I got to meet Selena's dad, Abraham. Selena and I have the same birthday (April 16). Houston year two was pretty great.

Big Move to Houston

It has been a crazy time in my life! After 9 years in Dallas, I decided to make a big change and move to Houston. I am the new journalism teacher at Spring Woods High School. I teach six journalism classes. It has been fun exploring a new city. Some highlights from this school year include the visit from former ABC 13 anchor Art Rascon, the opportunity to share my experience from Poland with the entire student body, and the completion of the yearbook. The cover is below drawn by a student!

Emmy Winner

It finally happened . . . I won an Emmy! On November 12, 2022, I won a Lone Star Emmy Award for the story I did on George Dawson's Legacy for our school's website. George Dawson's great grandson, Christopher Irvin, attended the ceremony with me at Giley's in Dallas. I received it in the Texas Heritage category. There were four other people in my category including KHOU-TV and the Daytripper. I am so grateful I was able to share Dawson's story with other people. You can watch my story at this link!

2021-2022 School Year

We only have three more weeks of this school year! It really flew by fast. This is my 7th year teaching. One of the big highlights of the school year was a visit by Katie Couric. I had messenged her on Instagram and she responded! She spoke to my journalism students via Zoom. It was pretty amazing. David Muir, the anchor of ABC World News Tonight, also sent my students some autographed pictures. We had an amazing vitural field trip to the Dallas Holocaust and Human Rights Museum again for my social studies classes. We also collected goodies for two students brothers who are serving in the military. The PTSO gave us $2,500 to build a brand new news desk! It looks really good. The yearbook just arrived this week and it looks great! I am definitely ready for summer break!

George Dawson's Legacy

I am a teacher at George Dawson Middle School in Southlake, TX. For spring break this year, I traveled to Seattle, WA to do a story about George Dawson's legacy.

My journey to Africa

I had an amazing experience to be part of the Witness Tree Institute of Ghana in the summer of 2021. It was life changing and really opened my eyes to the journey the enslaved from Africa to the Americas. I was able to tour the European castles that were built and walked the path to the slave river barefoot. I had many amazing opportunities to hear professors from the University of Ghana and explore many parts of the country. I even got to meet and talk to a Ghana king. If you are an educator, I highly recommend this opportunity!

2020-2021 School Year

There are only thirteen more days of this school year. It has been an intersting one for sure. I had students who were at home the whole year and zooming into class. A majority of the kids were in person, but everything was done on a computer. I was worried we weren't going to be able to do projects, but we got them done. The at home students just had to show theirs on camera. Dawson Middle School has been a great school to come to. The students are amazing and the administration has been great. I have taught a majority of journalism classes this year (4) and two Texas history classes. We got the yearbook completed, and it was delivered last week. It looks great. I look forward to a normal year next year!