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Maria Solórzano
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Maurine Richter
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Edgewood Elementary School bilingual teacher Maria Solórzano and Cornerstone Academy seventh-grade teacher Maurine Richter were named 2008 SBISD Elementary and Secondary Teacher of the Year during the annual Service Awards and Teacher of the Year Reception.
The annual employee and retirement recognition event was held May 7 at the Omni Houston Westside Hotel for the first time. It attracted about 400 people for a ballroom dinner and program.
As this year’s two top-rated teachers, Solórzano and Richter will now represent the district in regional competition. Teacher of the Year nominations were received from all 46 campuses.
Superintendent of Schools Duncan Klussmann announced the prizewinners after recognizing the three finalists in both categories.
A native of Nicaragua, Solórzano has been a teacher for eight years. In 1979, her family fled the Central American country due to civil war and was granted political asylum in the United States.
A 2000 graduate of the University of Houston-Downtown, where she was named the 1999-2000 Outstanding Bilingual Education student, she has taught bilingual third-grade at Edgewood Elementary for the past four years.
She has also taught in Houston ISD and worked for eight years before that as a teacher’s aide at the St. Jerome Early Childhood Center. She is a graduate of St. Jerome parochial school, where she entered elementary school with no English language skills. Her only goal as a child was to learn English as quickly as possible.
“Once I got older, I decided to become a teacher to help the bilingual population in our schools. I believe that my experience becoming bilingual can help me teach children that they have to go through the same process that I did many years ago,” she says.
“I still consider myself a second language learner because I believe that learning is continuous. Learning never stops.”
In addition to her service on numerous committees and many professional memberships, Solórzano holds certification as a New Jersey Writing Project trainer. In HISD, she was named the 2002-2003 North District Teacher of the Year.
Cornerstone Academy’s Maurine Richter, a language arts and social studies teacher, has taught for 27 years. She has taught seventh-grade at the district charter middle school for four years.
A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Richter has taught during her career at six SBISD campuses, including Nottingham, Housman and Woodview elementary schools. Since 1990, she has taught at Spring Woods and Spring Forest middle schools, as well as Cornerstone Academy.
She pursued post-graduate studies in gifted education. Loved by young people, Richter is known for her work with the Cornerstone Academy Student Council. She puts in as many as 70 to 80 hours a week assisting the public charter school’s drama department, sponsoring community service projects and working with teenagers in need.
“My greatest achievement and lifelong mission in education has been to greet each student at the door of my room and to teach them that the power of learning and being their best will guarantee them a life worth living,” she says.
“My undertaking in education is to discover the inner child that wishes to succeed and be someone. It is my privilege, no, my gift, that I am one of the teachers along that path.”
A member of several professional organizations, Richter has been a Middle School Tribes trainer and mentor for the past seven years, a conference presenter and a social studies curriculum writer and trainer. She was awarded a PTA Life Membership by two campuses and has been a frequent grant recipient.
Teacher of the Year nominations were reviewed by a panel of judges, which included SBISD Board of Trustees members David Converse and Theresa Kosmoski. Teacher essays and nomination packets were narrowed to six finalists – three elementary and three secondary teachers.
Other elementary finalists this year were Sydney Bermack of The Bear Boulevard School for Early Learning and Mary Huffman of Terrace Elementary.
At the secondary level, other finalists were David Leeder of Memorial High and Susan Trepagnier of Memorial Middle School.
As district winners, Solórzano and Richter received a trophy-style Golden Apple award, a $2,000 professional growth stipend from the district, $1,000 from the Spring Branch Education Foundation and $250 from First Community Credit Union.
Spring Branch has named Teachers of the Year who went on to win regional honors in 1990, 1994, 1999 and 2000. Spring Branch educators were named Texas Teachers of the Year in 1983, 1985, 1989 and 2000.
During the Service Awards, SBISD staff and retirees were honored for public service ranging from five to 35 years. The work of this year’s retirees represents 1,610 years of combined service to children. As a part of the program, the Spring Branch Education Association awarded its Red Apple Award this year to CIMA Energy for working with Northbrook High School business students.
posted 05-08-08
