Spring Branch ISD Featured News

Award-winning Memorial High School teacher Holly Hartman made district history recently when Group 1 Automotive surprised the district and Region Teacher of the Year with a new Cadillac from David Taylor Cadillac.

 

Hartman’s surprise luxury car award was announced at the end of Spring Branch ISD’s recent staff Convocation, a back to school gathering held Aug. 10 at Darrell Tully Coliseum.

 

The complimentary, 1-year Cadillac lease highlights SBISD’s new partnership with the Sterling McCall Auto Group, introducing the “Going the Extra Mile” incentive to award and honor one or more district Teachers of the Year annual with a new car lease.

 

“We are thrilled and most appreciative to have David Taylor Cadillac and Group 1 Automotive on the Learner’s Journey with us and Going the Extra Mile to help us recognize our superlative educators,” SBISD’s Community Relations Officer Linda Buchman said after Hartman’s new Cadillac was awarded.

 

She also noted that Group 1 Auto/Sterling McCall VIP Services has become the district’s newest XtraCredit partner by offering preferred vehicle pricing for all SBISD employees through the VIP Services Car buying program. And for every car purchased, the auto group donates $100 to the Spring Branch Education Foundation.

 

Hartman was seated at Convocation with Memorial High School colleagues in the district coliseum when a friend said she was about to win a new car.

 

“I laughed because I thought there was just no way that could be the case. When they called my name, I couldn’t believe it,” Hartman said. She was named Region 4 Teacher of the Year earlier this summer after being selected SBISD’s Secondary Teacher of the Year.

 

Hartman, who has taught many years at the high school, oversees a highly rated student newspaper and yearbook, both of which have won numerous local, state and national awards during her tenure there. She also teaches regular journalism classes.

 

At Convocation, she made it down to the stage “in a daze,” and then was led out the front doors for a first look at a Cadillac festooned with ribbons and balloons. Her initial reaction and delight was live streamed to coliseum video screens.

 

“Of course, I was excited and so extremely grateful. There are so many teachers in our district who are just as deserving, if not more so, than I am, so I am extremely humbled to have been chosen to represent SBISD and Region 4,” Hartman said.

 

Pete DeLongchamps, senior vice president at Group 1 Automotive, introduced the Cadillac lease at the close of Convocation. Joining him for the special presentation was David Taylor Cadillac General Manager John Addison.

 

Group 1 Automotive, a local company, owns and operates more than 150 automotive retailers offering dozens of car brands, from Chevrolet and Ford to higher-end car makers including Cadillac, Audi, BMW, Mercedes Benz and Jaguar.

 

A Spring Branch native, DeLongchamps attended Rummel Creek Elementary and Shirley Hale was his well-known principal. A Westchester High School grad, he drove off to college in a Dodge Challenger coupe that he paid a Rummel Creek third-grade teacher $1,500 for.

 

His choice of a classic first car served him well. He sold it years later for the same amount, which he still views as a great buy. The car inspired his later career, too.

 

In addition to the new incentive program, Group 1 Automotive in the past has supported Westwood Elementary School with Junior Achievement activities.

 

David Taylor’s John Addison announced and presented the first “Going the Extra Mile” award, requesting student drummers, “Drumroll, please,” before calling Hartman down to the stage for her new car.

 

“What David Taylor has done is beyond generous,” said a reflective Hartman days later. “It’s wonderful that they’re supporting our district and teachers in this way. I’ve never had a brand new car and definitely not a brand new Cadillac. It took me about 30 seconds to get used to it, though!”

 

A week after picking up keys at the local dealership, Hartman still shakes her head in disbelief every time she gets into her shiny, new Cadillac.

 

“I now look forward to ‘passing the keys,’ so to speak, to another teacher down the road,” Hartman quips.