Susan Mitchell - Groves Elementary (District & Elementary Teacher of the Year)
It is 7:30 a.m. on a Monday and Susan Mitchell is hurriedly preparing her classroom for the day.
More than 1,100 students will come through her doors at some point during the week.
“A librarian is a teacher,” Ms. Mitchell said. “That is what I am and the library is the biggest classroom in the entire school. I teach every single student, all 1,100-plus of them.”
Ms. Mitchell was named 2023- 2024 Humble ISD District Teacher of the Year, winning a prize of $10,000 sponsored by Robbins Auto, at the Humble ISD Education Foundation’s Boots and Bling Gala at Stampede Houston.
She was named the Region 4 Elementary Teacher of the Year Award winner on August 1. Region 4 comprises 48 public school districts and 41 charter schools, which employs more than 76,000 teachers, across the Greater Houston area. In 2019, Humble ISD teacher Joe Paneitz was named Region 4 Secondary Teacher of the Year.
Ms. Mitchell served the last two years as librarian of Groves Elementary, after 12 years as a third and fourth grade teacher at Greentree Elementary.
Every morning she helps students check their books in and find their next adventure off the shelf. Some students come for a morning hug from their favorite teacher.
Once the school day starts, it is six straight classes to fill her day.
“She goes far beyond her four walls every day,” Groves Principal Angela Bland said. “She partners with our teachers and loves our students. She makes literacy and learning just so fun here at Groves Elementary.”
Ms. Mitchell believes it’s her job to support teachers and their classroom curriculum. The impact she has on the students is clear.
“She’s had such a great impact on me,” Groves Elementary fifth grader Timia Davis said. “She’s really changed the way I see reading. She is just making me love reading every time I come to the library.”
Teresa Aranda - Summer Creek HS (Secondary Teacher of the Year)
Dance is life for Teresa Aranda.
The Summer Creek Starlettes Director has danced at the high school, collegiate and professional level and brings that experience to the Starlettes every day since starting the program in 2009.
“This is every dance director’s dream,” Ms. Aranda said. “To create their own team, to create the uniform and to create the handbook. I absolutely love Summer Creek High School.”
In April, Ms. Aranda was named the 2023-2024 Humble ISD Secondary Teacher of the Year at the Humble ISD Education Foundation’s Boots and Bling Gala. Ms. Aranda was awarded a $5,000 prize sponsored by Herff Jones.
Her dance career began at Galena Park High School as a Jacketeer, she went to San Jacinto College North as a Sandancer, then was a Cougar Doll at the University of Houston.
At the University of Houston Aranda realized her next path in life.
“My advisor said ‘What is it that you want to do?,’” Aranda said. “I love dance and I love teaching. Those are my passions. At that point I realized that I wanted to be a dance teacher. This was my true calling.”
She also danced for the Houston Texans Cheerleaders for five years, serving three as the captain. Her last year with the Houston Texans Cheerleaders corresponded with her first at SCHS.
“ I was looking for people with great personality, lots of energy and expertise,” Humble ISD Assistant Superintendent of High Schools Trey Kraemer said. “Terri met all of that. She’s contagious, and with her background in dance and her philosophy on life, I knew she would be a person that kids would want to be a part of in a drill team.”
Fourteen years later, the award winning Starlettes also volunteer with the Houston Food Bank, Veterans Memorial Wreaths Across America program, Humble ISD’s Fill the Bus and more.
A shelf full of trophies and banners surrounds two walls inside the dance studio at Summer Creek High School.
But for her Starlettes, Ms. Aranda is more than just a dance teacher.
“Ms. Aranda means the world to me,” 2022-23 Starlettes Captain Makayla Brown said. “She’s like a second mother and a best friend as well as a director. I see her throughout most of my day. I’m really grateful for her.”