News Briefs

Instructional Lead Teacher for English at Alex W. Spence Middle School and TAG Academy, Rachel Reese is proud to share with anyone who asks that she is a 26-year veteran of Dallas ISD who has devoted her entire career to working with middle school students. She currently teaches eighth-grade reading/language arts at Spence and serves as chair of the English Language Arts Department. Ms. Reese earned an Associate of Arts degree at Paris Junior College and a Bachelor of Arts in journalism at Texas Tech University. After launching her career as an elective teacher for the school newspaper and yearbook…

Los Angeles native and alumni of D.W. Carter High School Aaron Stewart teaches English I at Skyline High School. At Carter, Stewart became a stand-out football player and member of the school choir and National Honor Society. It was also at Carter that he became a founding member of the student mentoring program, Fostering Underclassmen To Utilize and Respect Education, perhaps foreshadowing his future career calling. Following graduation from the University of North Texas, Mr. Stewart’s desire to teach students from backgrounds similar to his own led him to Skyline High School, where his history as a poor, fatherless, Black…

Seneca Denman was raised in a small rural town in East Texas with six sisters and six brothers and learned early the importance of sharing, taking turns, being patient, and that her parents didn’t play when it came to education. Shaped by those early lessons, today, she serves as social studies teacher and department chair at Boude Storey Middle School, where she draws praise from her principal and colleagues as a campus role model who seeks not only to prepare her students but also to collaborate with and support her peers. Ms. Denman holds a Bachelor’s degree in Physical Education and…

Maria “Elysa” Enriquez Sarmiento, born in Manila, Philippines, to a family of educators, completed her bachelor’s degree in psychology in her home country before moving to the U.S.  She worked as a paraeducator with 3rd to 5th graders in Hayward, California, for almost two years before relocating to Dallas as an autism behavior technician at a non-profit health services provider. Joining Dallas ISD in 2016 as a student teacher at Martinez Learning Center in West Dallas, she earned an alternative teaching certificate and served as her school’s special education lead teacher and chairperson for three academic years. After acquiring her…