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Golden Eagle Teacher Excellence Awards The Argyle ISD Education Foundation is proud to announce our campus award winners for the 2005-2006 school year. All of these teachers have dedicated themselves to our students, our schools, and the profession of teaching.
“I believe that there is music in every child and that it is my unique opportunity to help each child discover and bring forth this music. I believe that I must cultivate and help develop musical awareness in children by providing enthusiastic instruction in the fundamentals of music as well as providing guidance in their musical creativity. Through singing, playing instruments, moving, listening, and creating, I endeavor to give children positive experiences which will help them become lovers of music for the rest of their lives. A first rate music program is a visual illustration of the quality and integrity of the overall education each student receives in the Argyle School District.” Mrs. Chrestopoulos (Mrs. C to the students) has been a teacher for 29 years. She taught in Arizona, Georgia, and Illinois before coming to Texas. With her guidance students have won individual state awards and as director of the Southern Illinois Children’s Choir, received invitations to perform at the National Cathedral in Washington D. C. and tour a number of Canadian cities. She coaches the district winning UIL music memory elementary teams and her Hilltop Choir performs at the annual Argyle Tree Lighting Ceremony, the Denton Arts and Jazz Festival, and at local nursing homes. She sings with her choir at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church and is a Meals on Wheels Volunteer.
“Always be willing to change, then learn from it and evolve. Any future teacher would need to take this sentence to heart. Regardless of WHERE I’ve taught, WHO I’ve worked for, the common thread remains the same. “My kids come first!” I build a good rapport with my students. They trust me and they know that I’m in it for them. This allows me to get more out of my students. I tell them, ‘I’m NOT out to get you, I’m out to get you to be all you can be.’ and ‘I don’t expect you to work any harder than I do, but you’ll have to work hard just to catch up!’ All students, regardless of family status or economic background, truly appreciate an honest, caring, hard-working teacher. A real educator never forgets this.” Mrs. Drake has been a teacher for 24 years. She was the 2000 Bryan Adams High School Teacher of the Year, has won numerous teacher awards, and started the TAKS ATTACK program. She is one of the National Junior Honor Society Sponsors and she is involved in the Booster Club. She has been the local chair for the Mothers’ March and sponsors the Carter Blood Drive.
“I try to enjoy life, enjoy mathematics and physics, and to enjoy my students. I try to help them understand the importance of mathematics and physics through history. I want them to succeed in my classes and I encourage them to take as many math and science classes as possible. My favorite lesson each year is a Calculus II lesson. It involves generating a Taylor series to represent a known function. It still amazes me that each term you add makes the series graphically fit the function a little better. I think the students are also amazed how well this process works.” Mr. Cliff McCurdy has 29 years of teaching experience including districts in Lubbock, Canadian, Valley View and Argyle. He is certified in secondary mathematics and physics, and computer programming. He has been an UIL coach for 19 state champion math/science teams and 22 state champion individuals. He is a coach for Number Sense, Calculator Applications, Mathematics and Science, particularly Physics. In 2006, Argyle placed first at the UIL academic state meet for the second time in three years. Argyle had the state champion team in Science (5th year in a row), Mathematics (3rd year in a row), Calculator Applications (3rd year in a row), and Number Sense (2nd year in a row). Argyle had the state champion individual in Science, Physics, Mathematics, Calculator Applications, and Number Sense. Argyle placed first at the Texas Math and Science Coaches Association state meet for the fourth consecutive year. Argyle placed first at the Calculus Bowl at the University of Texas at Arlington against all school classifications (1A-5A). As you can see Mr. McCurdy devotes a great many hours to extracurricular academic activities. In addition to this, Mr. McCurdy serves the residents of a local nursing home through his church.
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Hilltop Elementary - Dianne Chrestopoulos
Argyle Middle School - Debra J. Drake
Argyle High School - Cliff McCurdy |
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