Two teachers from the Dallas Independent School District were named National Interns of the Year by the National Association for Alternative Certification.
Joshua Gutierrez, a bilingual teacher Lida Hooe Elementary School, and Lisa Culpepper, an English teacher at James Madison High School, will each receive a cash award of $1,000 on Jan. 30 during the 20th Annual NAAC conference in Summerlin, Nev.
"We are very proud of our awardees because they are two of only three teachers nationwide to earn the National Interns of the Year title," said Nell Ingram, executive director-Dallas ISD's Alternative Certification Department. "Receiving this award means that our teachers have excelled as beginning teachers."
Teachers who go through alternative certification are sometimes referred to as interns in their first year by the organization that accredited them. Both teachers participated in Dallas ISD's Alternative Certification program in 2007-2008.
Gutierrez is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University in biblical studies and started his career with the Dallas ISD as a substitute teacher. Culpepper is a graduate of National University with a major in English.
