SAN ANTONIO — The next several weeks will be dedicated to celebrating teachers in Texas. San Antonio kicked off a tour that will recognize school staff for their extraordinary efforts, and which will provide educators with the chance to win $100,000 in cash prizes.
The annual HEB Excellence in Education Awards, a ceremony to recognize educators and award recipients, may have been postponed due to the pandemic, but the appreciation for them doesn’t have to be delayed. KENS 5 and Tegna Texas teamed up with H-E-B to launch the "Texas Loves Teachers Tour" to make sure educators are not forgotten.
“We're really looking forward to celebrating our 300,000 teachers across the State of Texas,” said Julie Bedingfield, H-E-B spokesperson. “We're doing it a little bit differently. We're bringing the celebration to the teachers.”
Northside ISD was the first stop of the tour on Wednesday. The celebration included marching bands, cheerleaders, goodie bags and our very own KENS 5 Weather Chief Bill Taylor, who served as the host.
Teachers who stopped by the event shared how teaching during the pandemic was tough. They say the event made them feel appreciated for their work.
“Our kids have missed so much, our teachers are absolutely essential—not just to these individual kids, but to our future of our society,” said Dr. Brian Woods, Northside ISD superintendent. “We can't wait to have all of them back in our classrooms.”
The tour will make stops at 50 school campuses statewide within 50 days. The campuses were decided by community members who voted through the month of February. At each stop, the tour will host an appreciation event that will include HEB gift card drawings and giveaways.
Once the tour is over, there will be $100,000 in cash prizes up for grabs. All public school districts, early childhood facilities, teachers and principals within the state of Texas are eligible to win. You can visit this website to enter the random drawing through May 4.