"Andres not only knows the name of every staff member at Maxwell, but he knows something about them."
"Our students speak 60 different languages, and when Gary interacts with our English language learners, he always communicates clearly and with empathy."
"Older students who previously got in fights and hated coming to school had this to say of our superhero team: 'They care about me, and I know they always will.'"
In DPS, we're fortunate to have amazing educators like Maxwell
Elementary School teacher Andres Pazo
and Patrol Officer Gary Davis and
teams like the DCIS at Ford Social Emotional and Restorative Justice Team mentioned above -- and we're equally thankful to have teammates who take the time to recognize these outstanding individuals who they see making a difference.
On Wednesday night, nearly 300 of our DPS educators came together for our annual
Night of Honor recognition celebration, an opportunity to commend those leading the way to build a stronger Team DPS by living our Shared Core Values -- Students First, Integrity, Equity, Collaboration, Accountability and Fun -- and, in turn, transforming our culture.
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The DCIS at Ford Social Emotional and Restorative Justice team, winners of the Excellence in Team Award.
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During the fifth annual recognition event,
which was very generously sponsored by DaVita, we honored more than 100 DPS team members who were nominated by their peers and selected for these distinct honors. From English teachers to facility managers to payroll supervisors, our honorees spanned a huge range of roles from across DPS. While their roles vary, every one of these honorees reminded us that, using our Shared Core Values as a foundation, anyone can make a difference and make a better DPS for our kids
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Congratulations to our honorees, including:
Leadership Lamp Award honorees: Our most distinguished award honoring our Shared Core Values champions who model the way for DPS.
- Andres Pazo, kindergarten teacher at Maxwell Elementary
- Theresa Becker, director of family constituency services with Family and Community Engagement
- Gary Davis, patrol officer with Safety and Security
- Christopher Lilly, construction quality specialist with Construction Services
Excellence in Team Award honorees: Honoring high-performing and effective teams.
- Choice and Enrollment Services
- DC21 Instructional Leadership Team
- DCIS at Ford Social Emotional and Restorative Justice Team
- North High School Fine Arts Department
Click here to see a complete list of honorees, including Living Our DPS honorees.
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The second semester Living Our DPS honorees.
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During the evening -- which was full of smiles, warm embraces and tears of joy -- we saw just how far a thank you can go as we not only celebrated those who inspire us, but we also set the bar for who we want to be as an organization and how we want to act as members of this team.
As Leadership Lamp Award honoree Theresa Becker shared: "I'm so lucky to get to come to work every day and love my work. ... This work isn't easy, but it's so worth it. Thank you -- it's such an honor to work alongside you."
Congratulations to our honorees, and thank you to everyone who helped celebrate them. I encourage all of Team DPS to continue finding ways to recognize each other for having a positive impact -- because no thank you is too small to make a difference.
Best,
Tom
Pictured above: The 2017 DPS Leadership Lamp Award honorees: Gary Davis (top left), Theresa Becker (top right), Andres Pazo (bottom left) and Christopher Lilly (bottom right).
