Phoenix kindergarten teacher wins Pay Tribute to a Teacher award for August

The KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos Pay Tribute to a Teacher award for August went to Leighanne Harrison, a kindergarten teacher at Horseshoe Trails Elementary School in Phoenix.

The award sponsored by Your Valley Toyota Dealers gives a deserving teacher $2,500 each month.

Harrison has been teaching kindergarten for 12 years but has been in the classroom for more than 30 years. She told Outspoken with Bruce and Gaydos that during her time in the Cave Creek Unified School District, she’s seen her former students grow into adults.

“It’s so special to be in the same community for so long because we have so many ties. Every year, the graduating class gets a graduation card from me. I was their first teacher or their second or third teacher, and they have to know that I remember them,” Harrison said.

She said her students may be nervous when they first begin school because they’re so young, but she tries to make them feel like the classroom is an extension of home.

Harrison wants to use the prize money to help fund K-Kids programs in her community. K-Kids is a leadership program for elementary school students that focuses on activities that contribute to the community.

“I’m the advisor we have for second through fifth graders coming in, and during the year, we decide who we want to fundraise for. So, last year we raised, like, $450 for the Halo Animal Rescue. We [write] letters to veterans,” Harrison said.

She would also spend some of the money on care packages for her son, who is in the military and deployed in the Middle East, as well as supporting her church’s theatre group.

Want to nominate somebody for the Pay Tribute to a Teacher award? Submissions are accepted here.

Funding for this journalism is made possible by the Arizona Local News Foundation.

Subscribe to the KTAR Eyes on Education newsletter to get our top education stories, exclusive guest interviews and more to your email inbox.

Related

Arizona’s Democratic superintendent nominee wants public schools to get stockpiled ESA fundsAZ Political Podcast: Former math teacher Teresa Leyba Ruiz hopes numbers add up in NovemberPeoria Unified board member questions quality of training, alleges sex scandal cover-upPeoria Unified governing board members deny accusations surrounding teacher sex caseArizona judge rejects Republican effort to block ESA reform ballot initiative; appeal plannedMore school closures could be coming in the West Valley