Hughes Elementary and Granger Elementary receive TEPSA Student Leadership Award

The Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association recently announced 33 elementary schools across Texas have received the Student Leadership Award, and this year two of those campuses were yet again from Northwest ISD: Hughes and Granger elementary schools.

TESPA announced the winners for their work during the 2020-2021 school year. This marks the third consecutive year Hughes’ student leadership team has won this award and the 10th consecutive year Granger’s student council has won the award. For the 2020-2021 school year, the Hughes team was led by teachers Sarah Turner, Melissa Grumble, and Kelly Whinery, and the student council at Granger was led by teacher Joanna Espinoza and counselor Christina Buce.

Both Hughes’ student leadership team and Granger’s student council earned the award for exemplifying the qualities of a leader through community service. Examples of service activities students have done include collecting canned food for food drives that benefit local food banks, collecting toys for Scottish Rite Hospital, adopting angels from the NISD Angel Tree, and raising funds to supplement Angel Tree gifts by selling candy grams in December.

“I am very proud of our students at Hughes that continued to lead last year despite all the COVID limitations,” Hughes Principal Jessica McDonald said.

At Granger, student council members are encouraged to create and lead projects of their own. One such project in 2020-2021 was proposed by a fifth-grade student to show appreciation for the custodial staff and assist them in their daily work by prompting students to clean up after themselves at lunch. Brooms and dustpans were purchased, and every elementary student was able to experience the joy of serving others.

“I am very proud of this organization, and it is always exciting to receive acknowledgement from TEPSA each year for the hard work that is done by these students and their sponsors,” Granger Principal Michelle McAdams said.

Both principals agreed student leaders from Hughes and Granger should be proud of how they served their schools and communities during a difficult and unprecedented year. For more information about the TEPSA Student Leadership Award, visit the TEPSA campus awards webpage.