The 2011 Lamplighter Awards Banquet held on Thursday, April 7, at Pinecrest Country Club was a great success with 368 people attending.   Foremost, the evening gave students an opportunity to express their genuine appreciation to educators whom they respect and admire.  At the eleventh annual banquet, Kim Holcomb and Gene Jordan, Jr., emcees, presented each student and honoree with a Lamplighter Award donated by Mike Clowers and The Clowers Company and read an excerpt from the student’s essay about the educator being honored.  While each essay was unique, they all paid tribute to the same qualities students think outstanding educators should possess—pride in their jobs, the ability to make students feel at home, a strong belief in the students, the ability to serve as role models, honesty, and the willingness to respect their students as individuals.   The students' essay showed that educators contribute every day in many ways to the success of their students and are teaching valuable lessons that their students will remember long after their leave school.

Morgan-Taylor Thomas, fifth grader at Hudson PEP Elementary School, Hannah Brown, eighth grader at Foster Middle School, and Chloe Yu, senior at Longview High School, concluded the evening by reading their essays.  Morgan-Taylor honored Carl Lucas, custodian at Hudson PEP Elementary School; Hannah honored Jessica Haney, sixth grader math teacher and UIL Math/Science Team coach; and Chloe honored Paige Mayes, Life Skills teacher at Forest Park Middle School, formerly at Foster Middle School.  Their essays portrayed the true essence of the education profession.

This year at the banquet the Foundation also awarded the ninth annual Cornerstone Award posthumously to Mickey M. Melton, the founder of the Longview ISD Foundation, Inc.  Each year this award honors a retired LISD employee who has been instrumental in the tradition of success of Longview ISD; however, this year the Foundation suspended its criteria in order to honor the Foundation's dear friend, Mickey, who died unexpectedly on April 10, 2010.  His wife, Rebecca Melton, and his daughter, Emily Melton Harris, accepted the award, and Rebecca thanked the Foundation for honoring Mickey for trying to make a difference.

Because of the generosity of Heart of the Community, Champion, Sustainer, Advocate, Benefactor and Friend sponsors for the banquet and Best Buy, McCarley's Jewelry, and Kay Ray, who donated this year’s raffle items, the Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. can continue to fund its annual Grants-to-Teachers Program and Campus Initiative Grants Program. 

Since 1996, the Foundation has funded 491 grants through the Grants-to-Teachers Program, returning $425,287.40 to Longview ISD teachers, counselors, librarians, and nurses so that they can provide the very best education possible for their students.  In addition, the Longview ISD Foundation has funded eleven Campus Initiative Grants for a total of $24,160.23 to enhance programs that align with campus and district improvement plans to increase student achievement.

The Longview ISD Foundation, Inc. sincerely thanks the sponsors for the 2011 Lamplighter Awards banquet.

2011 Lamplighter Awards Banquet Sponsors