Floresville ISD announced the Teacher and Students of the Month for October.
Mrs. Stephanie GIlchrist, teacher at Floresville South Elementary, was named Teacher of the Month. She graduated from Texas A&M University with a degree in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in Early Childhood Education. She also attended Our Lady of the Lake University where she earned her Master's in Curriculum and Instruction, eventually becoming a certified Master Technology Teacher. Her certifications include General Education EC-6, Master Technology Teacher (MTT), ESL certified, GT certified by 30-hour course work and 6-hour update each year. Mrs. Gilchrist says teaching second grade is her favorite because they are still little and so independent! When asked what her favorite thing was about teaching, she says she has two: she loves to see the growth in the child and when they are struggling with a concept and they finally get it. Mrs. Gilchrist says, “the looks on their face and confidence is what I love to see! Some people jump out of airplanes for the rush of excitement, I teach children.” Mrs. Gilchrist says she has always wanted to be a teacher. In fact, she became a teacher because she loved her Kindergarten teacher so much she wanted to teach Kindergarten like her. One of her students says, Mrs. Gilt is nice, smart, helpful, positive, pretty and always taught us in cool ways!
Destiny Torres, a 5th-grader at FSE, is one of two Students of the Month. Destiny enjoys drawing and hopes to be an artist when she grows up. Her favorite subject is math, she thinks its easy and interesting. Destiny has excellent grades and is on the A-B Honor Roll List. Destiny also has perfect attendance so far for this school year. Her extracurricular activities include competing in UIL Listening Skills. She competed at the FSE UIL campus competition and placed 4th, advancing to the district competition in December.
Nikolas Sotelo, also a 5th-grader at FSE, is the second Student of the Month. Nikolas says he is looking forward to middle school and is most excited about joining the band and learning a new instrument. He is thinking about the trumpet and the drums! When asked about his future plans, he says he would like to be a video game designer or a teacher when he grows up. He says that teaching looks really fun. He says he would like to be a teacher and teach his friends' kids so they will recognize him when they come to drop off their kids at school. "Niko" has excellent grades and is on the A-B Honor Roll List. His favorite subject is math and is also looking forward to the challenges of letters in math. "Niko" enjoys playing video games when he is at home. He enjoys the challenge within each game and the games where he can choose and create his own story. In Minecraft, he likes using his creativity to build stuff. He enjoys playing soccer and basketball at recess. Niko wants his mother to know that he believes his mother does a great job in taking care of him and his litter brother and wants to say "thank you" to mom because she is the reason he is so successful at school. Mom uses her time after work to help Niko get better at math and reading, and wants to thank her for spending time with him and his brother.