Another trophy to add to the wall. Band director Andy Sealy was named the LISD Secondary Teacher of the Year on April 22. Now he is moving onto the state level, and he will be submitting his forms and interviews on June 3. 

Even if he is not named the Texas Teacher of the Year, Sealy said he is happy to have won the district Teacher of the Year title, though he doesn’t just see it as his win. 

“It was super exciting,” Sealy said. “It was a great source of encouragement and validation of what we try to do every day with our kids. [It’s] a great tribute to the kids, staff members and the parents. I get my name on it and that’s cool, but it’s really a reflection of what goes on every day with the kids in the classroom, and the parent and teacher community.”

Nominations started in December with staff members nominating who the Teacher of the Year award should go to for their respective campus. Afterward, the teacher chosen is enlisted into the selection of nominees for the district level and has to submit both an essay and resume, as well as be interviewed by someone from the district.

“Once we gather the faculty vote, we shorten it down to the top three and then we resend it out,” principal Amy Boughton said. “[Mr. Sealy] won the vote for our campus, so we celebrated him before the holidays.”

Sealy’s former students continue to support him and the band program.

“Before we went to LA, [the band] did a practice in the stadium to see what it would look like when walking the Rose Parade.” Boughton said. “So we invited all the alumni who have ever had Sealy and the community, and our entire stadium on our home side was filled with alumni that came back just to support him and this year’s band.”

On April 22, Sealy, alongside the Hebron staff, went to the LISD Banquet held at the Hyatt Regency hotel at the DFW Airport. There, a video for each Teacher of the Year nominee was played to showcase how their students and staff felt about them. 

“Now he will advance to the state level,” Boughton said. “He is currently in the process of turning in more essays and [applications] to possibly be one of the state Teacher of the Year nominees. He has to turn those in by June 3, and a week after, we should hear if he’s a finalist.”

Sealy has not only made an impact on his students by music, but also by character, said senior Emily Park.

“He taught me persistence [and] discipline in my own practice,” Park said. “That’s not what he’s purposely trying to teach us, but that’s what I took away most from these past years of being in this program and being conducted by him. He’s very humble. He really doesn’t care about what place we get. He [has] the titles [and] all of those trophies in the band hall. It’s just more about the human experience.”