5/6/2022
Education and Outreach
Seventh-Annual Event Celebrates Over 700 Finalists
From her 31 years as choral director at Green Valley High School, Kim Ritzer still remembers the young football player she persuaded to join choir.
He became a passionate choir singer for four years. And when an injury on the field led to his permanent paralysis, ending his dreams of professional football, she visited him weekly.
With her support in his healing, he reached his goal of returning to school to sing in the winter concert.
“LaQuan has returned many times to share his story with my choirs about overcoming obstacles. He is now a motivational speaker,” Ritzer says. “He told me he chose that career because he wanted to share the lessons he learned in my classroom with people from all walks of life.”
Ritzer represents just one of many inspiring teachers honored at The Smith Center’s seventh-annual Heart of Education Awards in late April, celebrating outstanding Clark County School District teachers.
As the program’s first live event in two years, the celebration welcomed over 700 finalists with a red carpet, swag bags and thrilling entertainment.
Thanks to the generous support of the Rogers Foundation, the top 20 educators each received medallions and a $5,000 cash award, with a $1,000 donation given to their schools.
The honorees hail from careers devoted to shaping students’ lives, underscored by their extensive efforts to help students and schools adapt during the pandemic.
“Clark County School District teachers have provided tremendous emotional support for students and families alike throughout these unprecedented times,” says Myron Martin, Smith Center president and CEO. “We feel proud to show educators that their hard work and sacrifice has not gone unnoticed.”
Celebrating Teachers with Star Power
Hosted by Emmy-winning news anchor Monica Jackson, the event offered a night of surprises.
These included surprise guest speaker Mo Rocca, the award-winning CBS news correspondent also famous for his work on “The Tonight Show” and “The Daily Show.”
The event also featured energizing performances by Grammy-nominated vocalist Clint Holmes, magician Mac King and Las Vegas High School’s mariachi band Mariachi Joya. Under the leadership of the band’s founding director Stephen Blanco — one of the night’s Heart of Education Award recipients — Mariachi Joya has reached national acclaim, even performing at the 2021 presidential inauguration.
Thanks to the support of numerous community sponsors, each finalist also received a wide variety of special items.
These included $50 coupons for Allegiant Air, free cupcakes from Showboy Bakeshop, a free pass to Las Vegas Mini Grand Prix, a $10 gift card from Eureka Restaurant Group and a buy-one-get-one-free offer from Discovery Children’s Museum.
Teachers Who Change Lives
The top 20 teachers honored as Heart of Education Award recipients offer inspiring stories of impacting their students and schools.
In addition to Ritzer and Blanco, the honorees included Desiree Bedocs, first-grade teacher at Judith Steele Elementary School, who paid out of pocket to take professional-development classes about mental health and trauma-informed practices, to better support her students shaken by the pandemic.
“The accomplishment I take the most pride in is that my first-grade students can identify what emotion they are feeling and know coping strategies,” she says.
The honorees also included Errolyn Guerzon, teacher at Dennis Ortwein Elementary School. Guerzon bought backpacks filled with supplies for each of her students to use during distance learning, and organized fundraisers to provide them with more educational materials.
When Mojave High School teacher Corwyn Evans-Klock took on AP Chemistry as a second-year teacher, he escalated the pass rate from 0 to 60 percent, on top of doubling the sizes of the school’s AP Biology classes.
James Miller has led his Science Olympiad team at Ed W. Clark High School to 10 state championships, with the program inspiring students to pursue careers in science and health care.
Kathy Clemens has dedicated the past 13 years at West Career & Technical Academy to preparing students for meeting eligibility requirements to become entry-level health care providers.
“So much of being a nurse involves teaching. It involves a relationship, an interaction, a speaking and listening exchange,” Clemens says. ”This is what I do on a daily basis with my students.”
Such examples of honorees’ accomplishments demonstrate the importance of celebrating teachers and their pivotal work, says Beverly Rogers, chair of the Rogers Foundation board.
“At the Rogers Foundation, our mission is to transform lives through arts and education,” Rogers says. “Teachers play the most important role in that endeavor, and we are humbled by their talent and energy. They are miracles in the lives of our youth. Teachers, yes, but more than that, the stars in their eyes, the rock they lean on.”
Click Here To Learn More About The Top 20 Teachers At The Seventh-Annual Heart Of Education Awards.