Honoring Teachers of the Year is an annual event for Gar­land Independent School Dis­trict.

The 72 Garland ISD schools each choose one educator per campus to receive the special Campus Teacher of the Year award. As a result, winners re­ceive district-wide recognition and a chance to apply for the District Elementary or Second­ary Teacher of the Year.

A Zoom celebration will be held in May for the honorees.

Winner of the Hudson Mid­dle School Teacher of the Year award is Shannon Reeves, a GISD teacher since 2004, who first started working in the dis­trict in 1996 while she finished college.

The English teacher said teaching is not just her job, but her passion, and to be rec­ognized for what she loves doing is the biggest honor.

Reeves said her favorite aspect of teaching is creating trust and build­ing rapport with the students. She said the switch to online instruction has been the biggest challenge of her career because it hindered her ability to build strong relation­ships with her students.

“As I think about all the things I have experienced over the years, it makes me very nostalgic,” Reeves said. “One experi­ence that stands out to me would have to be sitting a senior banquet with a student that was in my fifth-grade class. It brought me such joy seeing all that he’s ac­complished since leaving my classroom.”

For the full story, see our April 22 issue or subscribe online.

By Dustin Butler • [email protected]