McAllen ISD teacher named H-E-B award finalist for passion in teaching

McALLEN — Michelle Cavazos, a McAllen ISD 3rd grade dual language teacher, is one of five finalists in the state of Texas for the H-E-B Excellence in Education Rising Star Award and received a surprise visit by H-E-Buddy and McAllen ISD administration to congratulate her.

A teacher at Blanca E. Sanchez Elementary for the last six years, H-E-B and McAllen ISD administration surprised Sanchez Tuesday morning. She had no idea about the nomination prior to the surprise.

The Rising Star Award honors promising teachers with less than 10 years of experience. She was presented a personal check of $1,000 with the elementary school also receiving $1,000. If chosen as a winner, Cavazos and the elementary school will receive $5,000.

Starting the day with a journaling exercise and watching CNN 10, students started telling Cavazos, a McAllen ISD alumna, about people and H-E-Buddy in the hallway.

“I just started seeing all these cameras and it was like a freeze moment for all of us but it was very exciting,” she said.

A graduate of UTRGV with a bachelors in interdisciplinary studies and a masters in bilingual education, she is currently working on a doctoral degree at Texas A&M Kingsville.

Cavazos always knew she wanted to pursue a career in education to serve bilingual students.

“This award means my passion and my teaching has already sparked an interest of acknowledging everything that I have done these past six years as a teacher,” Cavazos said.

“Not only for me to be awarded this but to award the students and award the campus that I serve because without this campus, I wouldn’t have been the teacher that I am today.”

Feeling emotional following the surprise, she said the nomination for the award serves as a good example to her students to never give and to be resilient.

Describing how she is as a teacher, Cavazos said she is passionate about students and wants to be there to believe in them academically and psychologically.

Growing up as a bilingual student, Cavazos said she wants to make an impact for bilingual students like herself.

Veronica Rodriguez, Blanca E. Sanchez Elementary principal, said Cavazos is a phenomenal teacher that makes connections with her students and their parents, makes lessons engaging and wants to make a world of difference in the world of education.

“She’s got this saying in her classroom, ‘Si Se Echa Las Ganas, Si Se Puede’ … and she is the epitome of what that phrase is,” Rodrgiuez said. “She is a first generation graduate from her own family and is a role model to her sisters and to her own students. She wants to make sure that they understand if they just put in the effort, their dreams can come true.”

Born in Reynosa and raised in McAllen, Sanchez said she grew up in McAllen Housing Authority and pushed herself and her sisters to not be a statistic by being a role model.

Sanchez said her parents emphasized the importance of education and has led to one sister currently working with the McAllen Police Department, another close to graduating from Texas A&M Kingsville and her youngest sister starting high school.

“(My younger sister) sees everything that we’ve been doing and you know, we’re just breaking that poverty cycle,” Cavazos said.

To see more, view staff photographer Joel Martinez’s full photo gallery here:

Photo Gallery: McAllen ISD teacher Michelle Cavazos named H-E-B award finalist