FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Susie P. Gonzalez

susie.gonzalez@trinity.edu

April 24, 2008

Special Education, Music Educators Awarded 2008 Trinity Prize for Excellence in Teaching

SAN ANTONIO – A special education teacher and a music educator have been awarded the 2008 Trinity Prize for Excellence in Teaching for their outstanding performance in public education.  Teresa Dean Smith, special education teacher at Boerne High School in the Boerne Independent School District, and Julia Blair Battle, a music teacher at Hartman Elementary in the Judson Independent School District, were selected from 20 distinguished educators nominated by area schools for their commitment and passion to education. 

Each winner received a crystal apple and a $2,000 check during surprise visits to their classrooms on April 22 by Paul Kelleher, chair and the Murchison Distinguished Professor of Education at Trinity. Professor Kelleher believes that announcing the award in front of their peers and students is very meaningful to the teachers and enhances the celebratory nature of the Trinity Prize.

The winners will be honored in a May 2 ceremony on the campus of Trinity University, which sponsors the award along with the H-E-B Grocery Co. and the San Antonio Express-News.  The Trinity Prize, instituted in 1982 by the University’s department of education, is the area’s longest-running award to honor and recognize outstanding public school teachers in greater San Antonio and Bexar County and surrounding counties.

An educator for 18 years, Mrs. Smith has taught preschool and kindergarten as well as resource classes for kindergarten through sixth grade, plus classes for children with disabilities, the visually impaired, and high school students learning LIFE skills. One of her favorite units to teach to Boerne High School’s challenged students involves planning, shopping, and preparing an entire meal. “I teach because I believe everybody has something to learn every day – including myself,” she says.  She invites community leaders and businesses to uphold and train her students and then holds “thank you” functions for them. She even hosted a lunch for maintenance workers after they completed work on her classroom. In addition, she has served on a statewide panel to select a contractor for large type textbooks for the visually impaired. Mrs. Smith holds an education degree from Baylor University and a master’s in special education from Texas Tech University.

Relocated from New Orleans to San Antonio after Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Battle found a teaching home at Hartman Elementary, where she used some of her insurance funds to open a music theory lab with six computer stations that blend technology with music education. She teaches 800 students a week with a goal of letting music permeate the arts, math, and science curricula. Under her guidance, applications for the school’s choral program have grown from 30 to 175 in three years. She emphasizes multicultural performance and excites students and the school community alike, presenting standing room only concerts. “The ultimate goal of my music instruction is to awaken new talents and empower students to become informed consumers of music.” An accomplished solo artist, Dr. Battle holds a doctorate of musical arts with post-graduate work in opera theater from Indiana University at Bloomington and master’s and bachelor’s degrees from LSU. 

A committee of business leaders and Trinity education students selected the Trinity Prize winners.  Committee members included Adena Williams Loston, president of St. Philip’s College; Lt. Col. William S. Nichols, director of public affairs for the Air Education and Training Command at Randolph AFB; Thomas A. Stephenson, president and publisher of the San Antonio Express-News; and Anna Grossman and Alexander Wallender, both of whom plan to earn bachelor’s degrees in 2008 and a Master of Arts in Teaching in 2009 from Trinity.

At the May ceremony, the 2007 National Teacher of the Year, Andrea Peterson, will deliver the annual Kappa Delta Pi lecture to celebrate the practice of teaching. Mrs. Peterson is a music specialist at Monte Cristo Elementary School in Granite Falls, Wash. She built the program almost from scratch and was the first teacher in Washington to earn national board certification in early and middle childhood music. Her students write short plays based on novels and then select Broadway show tunes to illustrate thematic elements. She also uses innovative musical techniques to teach units on race, equality, and social justice and history lessons and has honored veterans through drama and music. “Music is an amazing tool to unlock students’ potential,” she says. “In contrast to a more concrete subject, there are no right answers in music.” She earned bachelor’s degrees in music education and arts music from the University of Washington.  

For more information, contact Trinity’s department of education at 210-999-7501.

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© 2008 Trinity University