Northside ISD elementary teacher receives H-E-B Excellence in Education Award

The six winners in the H-E-B Excellence in Education Awards 2022.

Courtesy of Mariah Contreras

This Teacher Appreciation Week, a Northside ISD school teacher has been honored with an official H-E-B Excellence in Education Award. The prize was awarded on Saturday, April 30 at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, marking the 20th annual iteration of the celebration.

The vetting process for the state-wide teaching competition began when last year’s awards ended. In February, eight San Antonio-area teachers were named finalists for the accolade. Six teachers total were awarded on Saturday, one elementary and one secondary school teacher in three separate categories marked by experience.

Joe Garay, a teacher at Valley Hi Elementary School in Northside ISD, was the lone San Antonian awarded the final prize out of a pool of 58 candidates across Texas.

Garay won the Rising Star Category award, which recognizes educators with less than 10 years of experience. Through winning the category, Garay received a $5,000 check and a $5,000 grant for his school. Grapevine school teacher Joe Parthemore from Heritage Middle School earned the recognition in the secondary school category.

Other categories include the Leadership Award, for teachers with 10 to 20 years in the classroom, and the Lifetime Achievement Award, for those with more than 20 years of experience.

For two decades, Texas’ favorite grocer has delegated awards to teachers. Since the awards’ inception, it has grown to become the largest monetary awards program for educators in Texas. H-E-B even dropped a Creamy Creation’s flavor to commemorate it.