By Daphne Chen

On Tuesday, May 4, the Coppell ISD Education Foundation honored its 2009-2010 CHS Distinguished Scholars and their chosen teachers, as well as the district’s teachers of the year, at the Marriott Hotel in Irving.

The event, themed “I Hope You Can Dance,” began with the National Anthem sung by CHS senior Leah Gray and also ended with Leah and her father Rusty Gray performing the title solo.

CHS Principal Brad Hunt made a speech to highlight the seniors in attendance, who were invited based on their rank in the top 5% of the graduating class of 2010. In the speech, he pointed out many seniors by name, telling anecdotes about memorable moments with them, and even tearing up when he spoke about how this would be the first class to graduate that has had him as a principal all four years.

“I was a freshman when you were freshmen,” Hunt said.

Before the banquet, each top 5 percent senior was able to invite a CISD teacher who influenced them throughout their lives and had a photo shoot at Bob Freeman Photography for the program booklet.

In addition, HR Director Tracey Wallace and Sueprintendent Dr. Jeff Turner recognized the Teachers of the Year. The elementary school teachers of the year were David Barnette (Austin Elementary), Kimberly Becker (Town Center Elementary), Lisa Evans (Denton Creek Elementary), Julie Gossett (Lakeside Elementary), D’Ann Green (Valley Ranch Elementary), Crickett Roberts (Wilson Elementary), Jill Rupert (Cottonwood Creek Elementary), Lisa Ruth (Mockingbird Elementary) and Lara Wadlington (Pinkerton Elementary).  Secondary school teachers of the year were Gay Chapman (CMSE), Laila Sanguras (CMSW), Carolyn Wooldridge (CMSN), Jennifer Martin (CHS) and Brandy Osterberger (NTH@Coppell).

The students in the Top Five Percent and their teachers are listed below:

Annie Abraham – Leslie Vail (CHS, Social Studies)

Amanda Adams – Jodie Deinhammer (CHS, Anatomy)

Suwetha Amsavelu – Brenda Brinkman  (CHS, Health Science Technology)

Satvika Ananth – Rita Bauer (CHS, Social Studies)

Erin Barlow – Eileen Krueger (CHS, English)

Paul Blazek – Jeb Puryear (CHS, Chemistry)

Scott Bower – Kevin Casey (CHS, History)

Ellen Cameron – Bianca Coker (CSMN, Algebra)

Peter Chang – Monica Winters (CHS, Art History)

Daphne Chen – Zach Sherman (CHS, English)

Elisa Farrell – Mickey Pangrac (CMSN, English)

Drew Hasson – Paula Russell (CHS, Math)

Kirstin Hazelrigg – Valerie Garnier (CHS, History)

Bryce Heatherly – Tamera Westervelt (CHS, Art)

Arnold Hechanova – Michael Vergien (CHS, English)

Lucy Huo – Jennifer Martin (CHS, Biology)

Hiba Ibad – Heather Aston (CMSE, English)

Chaitnya Jayanti – Kirk Richardson (CHS, Math)

Daniel Lee – Debbie Youngs (Mockingbird, Assistant Principal)

Sam Levin – Matt Bowden (CHS, English)

Alexandra McCully – Scott Mason (CHS, Band Director)

Chris Nguyen – Amanda Stone (Lakeside, 4th and 5th grade)

Krishna Patel – Donnette Alexander (CHS, Economics)

Shaan Patel – Joey Ashbrook (CMSN, Band Director)

Bharad Raghavan – Robert Gribble (CHS, Physics)

Eric Ressler – Tim Dixon (CHS, History)

Sara Saastamoinen – Ian VanderSchee (CHS, Math)

LeeAnn Stover – Jan Bourg (CHS, Math)

Avery Szalkowski – Jim Griffin (CHS, History)

Holly Tallon – Jeremy Varnell (CHS, Latin)

Henry Trahan – Don Kemp (CHS, Math)

Jeffrey Xue – Ray Pool (CHS, Health Science Technology)

Vicki Yang – Carson Thompson (CMSW, 7th grade English)

Rebekah Yates – Allison Anderson (Wilson, Kindergarten)

Quinn Zhang – Michael Brock (CHS, History)

Chip Zurita – Mike Yakubovsky (CHS, Engineering)