I was invited to attend the 2025 HEB Excellence in Education Awards Sunday night in Austin, and it was nothing short of amazing. As a first time attendee, I witnessed inspiring acceptance speeches from winners, as well as the keynote address from Admiral William H. McRaven. As one of the winners stated (and I'm paraphrasing), "these are tough times for teachers, but it's important that we keep going back into the fire and getting the job done".
Special congratulations goes to the two TREA schools represented:
Lisa Salmon, Principal of Wylie ISD for finalist in the "Statewide Early Childhood" category
Hunt ISD - Verlene Wallace, winner of the "Statewide Elementary School Counselor" category.
We will continue to encourage our membership to nominate outstanding educators in these 14 categories, and a million thanks goes to HEB! The 2026 applications are open through September 2025: