2024 Lamplighter Awards Honors LISD Educators

Longview ISD Foundation, Inc.
2024 Lamplighter Awards Banquet
 
The Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. believes that the Longview Independent School District delivers excellence to its students, and excellence is achieved because of the dedicated, nurturing people who touch the lives of students every day.  To honor the profession, the Longview ISD Foundation hosted the 2024 Lamplighter Awards, the twenty-fourth annual fundraising educator tribute dinner event, on Thursday, April 4, 2024, at 6:30 PM at Pinecrest Country Club.
 
To celebrate the twenty-fourth anniversary of this event, the Foundation asked students in kindergarten, fifth, eighth, and twelfth grades to remember a special educator who holds a magical place in their hearts and minds because he or she exhibits one of the twenty characteristics former student Lamplighter honorees said educators should possess.  Students then wrote essays about their special educators.
 
At the banquet, Amy Hull and Leah Hickman, Foundation board members, read portions of the students’ essays about the honorees while Greg Jeffery, Foundation board member, presented students and educators with awards.  The Foundation’s Lamplighter Award essay committee chose four students’ essays, those that best described the traits students think great educators should possess, and asked those students to close the evening by reading their essays.  They are  Alayiah Reeves, fifth grader, J. L. Everhart Elementary School; Lilah Haas, eighth grader, Foster Middle School; Isabella Wennmohs, eighth grader, Judson STEAM Academy; and Shreemayi Undavalli, senior, Longview High School. 
 
The Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. also honored Mike Gipson, Longview ISD maintenance supervisor, with its annual Cornerstone Award. Along with his team, Mr. Gipson is always available to help the Foundation with its events. He is the behind-the-scenes person who makes an event possible. An advocate for the Foundation, Mr. Gipson knows that helping the Foundation directly benefits students, and he has a heart for all students.  For his support of the Longview ISD Foundation’s mission and Longview ISD educators and students, the Foundation proudly honored him.
 
With the Lamplighter Awards, the Longview ISD Foundation pays tribute to students and those who are special to them in their school lives and invites the community to celebrate Longview ISD and the people who make it a success.  Through this event, the Longview ISD Foundation also raises funds for the annual Great Rewards for Great Ideas Grant Program, the Campus Initiative Grant, and the John W. Harrison, Jr. Academic Field Trip Grant through the generosity of Heart of the Community, Champion, Sustainer, Advocate, Benefactor and Friend sponsors. 
           
Since May 1996, the Foundation has funded 782 grants through the Great Rewards for Great Ideas Program, returning $848,170.10 to Longview ISD classrooms, enabling innovative teachers, counselors, librarians, and nurses to create new educational programs or to enhance existing ones so that they can provide the best instruction possible to all students.  These grants have funded programs and projects for students of all ability levels and in a variety of disciplines.  In addition to strengthening academics, the grants have also funded projects in music, art, technology, character education, health and physical education, guidance and counseling, and STEAM education.  The Longview ISD Foundation has also funded 52 Campus Initiative Grants for a total of $158,430.72. The Foundation believes that this grant program, targeting overall campus improvement, complements the Foundation’s annual Great Rewards for Great Ideas Program. 
 
In 2019, the Foundation began the John W. Harrison, Jr. Academic Field Trip Grant with funding for $7,000 to provide field trips that extend classroom learning for fourth or fifth grade students and middle school students. The Foundation has now funded nineteen academic field trip grants for fourth and fifth grade students and middle school students for a total of $79,480.80.
 
The Foundation also awards $1,000 scholarships to Longview High School seniors through its Lobo Memorial Scholarship Fund.  In May 2024, the Foundation will award $1,000 scholarships to nine members of the Longview High School Class of 2024.
 
Through the loyal support of Heart of the Community, Champion, Sustainer, Advocate, Benefactor, and Friend sponsors of the Lamplighter Awards, the Foundation not only hosts the event, allowing students to publicly honor their special educators, but also raises funds for its grant programs.  The Longview ISD Foundation appreciates its sponsors and their commitment to the Foundation. 
                                    
The Longview ISD Foundation is proud to present the 2024 honorees:
 
The Bailey School
Domingo Gutierrez, fifth grade math teacher,
honored by Melanie Padron, fifth grader 
 
Bramlette STEAM Academy
Janarius Williams, fifth grade teacher,
 honored by Tynan Christian, fifth grader
 
East Texas Montessori Prep Academy
Hellen De La Vera, kindergarten teacher,
 honored by Juana Hernandez Tovar kindergartner
 
J. L. Everhart Elementary School
 Megan Deal, inclusion/resource teacher,
 honored by Alayiah Reeves, fifth grader
 
Hudson PEP Elementary School
Regina Ward, third grade teacher,
 honored by Aiden Moussa, fifth grader
 
Johnston-McQueen Elementary School
Elizabeth Thompson, fifth grade teacher,
honored by Zavier Johnson, fifth grader
 
Ware East Texas Montessori Academy
Shawantra Terry, fifth grade math teacher,
honored by Taylor Williams, fifth grader
 
 Ned E. Williams Elementary School
Marlet Timberlake, reading specialist,
 honored by Naomi Reese, fifth grader                                              
 
Forest Park Middle School
Rodrick Halton, band director,
 honored by Jacquelynn Estrada, eighth grader
 
Foster Middle School
Brandon Williamson, agriculture teacher,
 honored by Lilah Haas, eighth grader
 
Judson STEAM Academy
Rachel Grant, band director,
 honored by Isabella Wennmohs, eighth grader
 
Longview Early Graduation High School
Davonte Mims, biology teacher,
 honored by Catherine Tiller, senior
 
Longview High School
Julie Guidry, counselor,
 honored by Jada Owens;
 
Stacie Wheeler, International Baccalaureate Program history teacher,
 honored by Joseph Hough;
 
and
 
Marsha Childers, International Baccalaureate Program
     English teacher,
 honored by Shreemayi Undavalli, senior