Allen ISD Where Eagles Soar Magazine Fall 2017 | Page 10

Class congratulates their teacher Rhoda Selph for being named
AISD Teacher of the Year.
Students celebrate their teacher Catherine Gregory being named
AISD Teacher of the Year.
Selph and Gregory Named as
Allen ISD Teachers of the Year
A
llen ISD honored Rhonda Selph and Catherine
Gregory as the Elementary and Secondary Teachers
of the Year for the 2017-2018 school year.
Selph is a sixth-grade social studies and English, Language
Arts and Reading
teacher at Vaughan
Elementary School.
She started her
teaching career with
Fort Worth ISD as a
kindergarten teacher
and taught in Abilene
ISD before moving to
Allen with the family
(L-r) Vaughan Elementary School
in 1998. She joined the
Principal
Honey Gray, Rhonda Selph
Vaughan staff in 2008
and Superintendent Dr. Scott Niven.
after several years as a
substitute and tutor at the school.
Rhonda Selph is described as an inspiring teacher with deep
roots in education. She says her teaching career began at the
age of five as she helped clean her mother’s kindergarten room
for the following day. It was her mother’s passion for teaching
over 33 years that inspired Rhonda to pursue a career in
education.
Her retiring principal, Honey Gray, also described Rhonda
as a dedicated instructor with a love for her students. “Rhonda
devoted hours to making sure her kids received the quality
education they deserved,” she said. “Rhonda has a passion for
teaching and is an inspiring role model for our new staffers.”
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Gregory began her
career at Farmersville
High School as an
Algebra teacher. She
also taught at Wylie and
Rockwall-Heath before
joining the Allen High
School staff in 2013.
Today she serves as the
AHS Math Department
Chair and teaches
geometry.
(L-r) Superintendent Dr. Scott Niven,
Catherine Gregory and Allen High
School Principal Dr. Jason Johnston.
Her nomination
describes her as “… a natural leader who has been called to
positions of positive influence in each school she has been
a part of. Colleagues view her as creative, innovative and an
outside-the-box thinker that challenges the status quo.”
AHS Principal Dr. Jason Johnston said Catherine is a
tireless worker who enjoys the respect of her peers and the
admiration of her students.
“Besides her leadership role in the Math Department,
Catherine is dedicated to her students,” Dr. Johnston said.
“She works countless hours helping the cheer squad and she
is always available to assist her co-workers – as well as the
high school as a whole – whenever she is needed.”
Selph and Gregory were honored at the 2017
Superintendent’s Recognition Breakfast and represented
Allen ISD in the 2017 Texas Teacher of the Year competition.