Community

Student and Teacher Recognition

Bastrop Education Foundation honors 30 “Rising Stars” and their mentors


Thirty outstanding Bastrop High School students—and the educators those students named as having made a significant difference in their lives—were celebrated on May 21  at the third annual Bastrop Education Foundation “Rising Stars” Banquet.


Held at the Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa, the event drew more than 250 parents, Foundation board members, Bastrop ISD officials, and Foundation sponsors.  The Rising Star program, according to Wells, supports and recognizes excellence in student achievement and in the essential role that educators play.   “We are so proud of these students—both honorees and nominees—and of the recognized teachers and counselors.  Together they exemplify Bastrop’s best!”


Honored as “Rising Stars” for 2009 were 30 students selected from a field of 80 students nominated by Bastrop High School teachers as exemplary, in terms of academics as well as participation in extracurricular activities and community service.  


Each selected student was asked to identify the educator whom the student credits as having made a significant difference in the student’s academic success, served as a positive role model or mentor, or helped shape the student’s hopes for the future.  The students’ selections were also honored at the event.


“The event was certainly about these outstanding students and teachers,” stated  Vice President for Programs Sharah Johnson, “but it also celebrates the connection students and their teachers make.  Everyone, I suspect, has a teacher whose guiding hand did much to make us who we are today. This teacher-student connection has a profound impact on student achievement and lies at the heart of teaching excellence.”


The 2009 “Rising Stars” and the educators they saluted are:

Senior Kirsten AllenRetired BHS NJROTC instructor Master Sargeant Rick Snell 
Junior Alex BallardBHS Theatre Arts teacher Guillermo Deleon
Sophomore Rachel ClardyBHS Business teacher Ellen Wright
Sophomore Daniela EmeryBHS Chemistry teacher Vivian Kreitner
Senior Cristal Espinosa-Cazares BHS counselor Linda Field
Senior Katie GeueaBHS Music teacher JoElla James
Senior Daisy GillamCCMS Technology teacher Dixie West
Soph. Hayden HigginbothamBHS English teacher John McMillan
Senior Heath HilbigBHS Math teacher Patsy Trigg
Senior Austin HolstBHS History teacher Leona Jones
Sophomore Shagufta KhanBHS English teacher Monica Roffol
Junior Mariya KolyesnikovBHS English teacher John McMillan
Junior Ben LeisureMina Elementary Music teacher Diane Seidel
Junior Jonathan LuskBMS Band director Adela Ramirez
Junior Katelyn MartinezBHS Spanish teacher AnnMarie Terzian
Junior Tristen MooreBHS World Geography teacher Trent Jimenez
Senior Armando PadronBluebonnet Elementary Third Graded teacher Heather Wheeler
Junior San PetersonBHS P-16 coordinator Marissa Graham
Sophomore Erin RainosekBHS English teacher John McMillan
Senior Tomasita RodriguezBHS Biological Sciences teacher Donald Wardell
Senior Jon RossBHS English teacher Deborah Wallace
Sophomore Fallon SeitzBHS English teacher Deborah Wallace
Senior Francisco SilleroBHS P-16 coordinator Marissa Graham
Senior Robert SolisBHS Physics teacher Ed Willis
Senior Chance StobaughBastrop High School counselor Terry Hamm
Senior Travis TharpBHS History teacher Leona Jones
Sophomore Andrew Treadway  BHS History teacher Robert Faires
Sophomore Jannice TruongBHS English teacher John McMillan
Senior Madison VinklarekBHS counselor Terry Hamm
Senior Dayton WhitesBHS English teacher Barbara Wolanski