Many of you told us your favorite teachers last week for Teacher Appreciation Week, but there could be only two winners. Those winners are Melissa Chapman (Beaumont ATPE) and Marianne Eckley (Lewisville ATPE)! They are the winners of our $100 Amazon gift cards! Here are their entries:

• Melissa Chapman: “One of my most favorite teachers was my high school art teacher, Marianne Morgan. She made art come alive to me and inspired me to develop creativity and artistic talent. She was fun, inspiring, motivating, and a friend. I keep in touch with her even after 30+ years. We need more teachers like Marianne Morgan!”
• Marianne Eckley: “Dr. Jane Irons at TWU because she inspired me to be a quality teacher!”

Here are a few other entries that stuck out:

• Stefani Peters (Hawley ATPE): “Mrs. Alpha Matlock! She was a hard teacher, but no matter what she always stayed encouraging and supportive! She was my third-grade teacher, and when I started dating my now husband, she entered my life again! She was my husband’s grandmother, and in 2022 she went to heaven! She is one of the few people that made me want to work with children! As a person who had to overcome learning disabilities, she was always so supportive and always had some new and creative way to try to work around it!”
• Laurie Cook (Forney ATPE): “Rachel Bowen—she works so hard every day to get the full potential out of each student. She tutors them during tutorials, her lunch, her planning periods, and her conference. She works just as hard at home answering questions through emails and through Remind until the kids have no more questions to ask. She is so dedicated, and it’s just an amazing thing to watch. She also was able to reach her goal of getting 100% masters with her algebra students three years in a row! Her kids absolutely love her, and several have wanted to become teachers because of her. She deserves recognition. She is amazing and she inspires all of us around her to push ourselves.”
• Michael Sweet (PSJA ATPE): “Dr. Yvonne Gomez—she is a rock star and pushed me to be the best teacher I can be. She brings out the best in all her colleagues and is all about the students and giving them the opportunity to showcase what they are capable of.”
• Raquel Wood (Waxahachie ATPE): “My favorite teacher was Mrs. Cooper, my fifth-grade teacher. She always made learning fun and found new ways to review information. She once bet us that if we all reached a certain score on our spelling test, she would stand on her head. She was nearly 60, and she held up her end of the bargain.”

Thank you all for your entries and for celebrating your favorite teachers during a special week!