Las Cruces Public Schools honors teacher, support personnel of the year

From Staff Reports
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Cathy Turietta-Huber, a fifth-grade teacher at Tombaugh Elementary School, was named the 2023 Teacher of the Year for Las Cruces Public Schools. She was honored at the Celebration of Excellence dinner on Friday, April 29, 2022.
Cathy Turietta-Huber, a fifth-grade teacher at Tombaugh Elementary School, was named the 2023 Teacher of the Year for Las Cruces Public Schools. She was honored at the Celebration of Excellence dinner on Friday, April 29, 2022.

LAS CRUCES – Las Cruces Public Schools announced its honorees for district Teacher of the Year and Educational Support Personnel of the Year for 2023.

Cathy Turietta-Huber, a fifth-grade teacher at Tombaugh Elementary School, is the 2023 Teacher of the Year and Amelia Apolonio, a computer technician at the LCPS service desk, is the 2023 Educational Support Personnel of the Year.

Both were recognized Friday at the Celebration of Excellence dinner hosted by the LCPS Foundation.

Every year, the principals from each LCPS school nominate a Teacher of the Year candidate and an Educational Support Personnel candidate. Educational support staff can be any LCPS employee who is not a certified teacher. Winners were chosen from 10 semi-finalists which were narrowed down to three finalists in each category.

Amelia Apolonio, a computer technician at the LCPS service desk, is the 2023 Educational Support Personnel of the Year for Las Cruces Public Schools. She was honored at the Celebration of Excellence dinner on Friday, April 29, 2022.
Amelia Apolonio, a computer technician at the LCPS service desk, is the 2023 Educational Support Personnel of the Year for Las Cruces Public Schools. She was honored at the Celebration of Excellence dinner on Friday, April 29, 2022.

The Teacher of the Year finalists were Turietta-Huber; Alexis Black, a ninth-grade biology teacher and 12th grade Advanced Placement biology teacher at Mayfield High School; and Jennifer Reyes, a bilingual program teacher and coordinator for kindergarten through fifth grade at Desert Hills Elementary School.

“Every day is exciting,” Turietta-Huber said. “No two days are the same, and there are no boring days teaching students. In fifth grade, we want to get students ready for middle school, which is a very exciting time in their young lives.”

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Turietta-Huber will begin her 22nd year of teaching with LCPS and has been recognized as a Highly Effective Educator by the New Mexico Public Education Department.

The Educational Support Personnel of the Year finalists were Apolonio; Mike Sanchez, the lead mechanic at the LCPS Physical Plant and Armando Iniguez, the lead custodian at Hillrise Elementary School.

“I enjoy this job because I’m able to make sure the students and staff have their devices working,” Apolonio said. “Working the service desk, I’m also able to help parents so they can assist their children in what they need. To me, helping is the best part of my job.”

For their honor, finalists were each given a $250 cash prize. Winners were awarded a $1,000 cash prize.

The money was presented by Century Bank and Campos Photos, both sponsors of Friday’s Celebration of Excellence Dinner. Other sponsors include Nusenda Credit Union and MountainView Regional Medical Center.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Las Cruces Public Schools honors teacher, support personnel of the year