El Paso, Wichita Falls teachers named Texas Teachers of the Year

Yushica Walker, a sixth grade science teacher at Morehead Middle School in El Paso ISD, is the 2010 Texas Secondary Teacher of the Year. Math and language arts teacher Donna Patrick of Southern Hills Elementary School, in Wichita Falls ISD, is the state’s new Elementary Teacher of the Year.

Both Walker and Patrick were awarded a cash prize of $5,000, a SMART Board technology package worth more than $16,500, a laptop computer, and a commemorative trophy at a ceremony and luncheon held in Austin.

A teacher must first be chosen as a campus Teacher of the Year and district Teacher of the Year, and then ultimately as a regional honoree. From this group of regional winners, six finalists are chosen and interviewed by an independent panel of judges. The state's top elementary and secondary teachers are selected from the finalists.