Chatting with Champions: From Future Educators to National Champions

For Liberty Hill High School (LHHS) students Kate Lemenager and Ella Schulze, teaching is not just a future career goal. It is something they are already practicing, presenting and celebrating. Let’s chat with them about their recent trip to Oregon winning a national championship.

This summer, Kate and Ella represented LHHS at the national Educators Rising competition in Portland, Oregon, where they earned first place in the Interactive Bulletin Board competition. Their win came through the Texas Association of Future Educators (TAFE), a student organization for students interested in careers in education. TAFE gives students the chance to explore teaching through conferences, competitions, leadership opportunities and hands-on projects. 

For Kate and Ella, TAFE has become much more than another club. It has given them a real look at what teachers do behind the scenes. “I feel like working in TAFE, we get to see a lot of the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) and the lesson plan side of things,” Kate shared. “I think that’s really important and a skill that you need to know when you’re a teacher.” Kate hopes to teach elementary school, where she would have the opportunity to teach multiple subjects and work with younger students.  Both students already have clear goals for the classroom. Ella hopes to teach high school math, possibly geometry or algebra. Her interest in that subject grew during her freshman year. Ella knew she wanted to be a teacher but, “that’s when I knew I wanted to teach that subject,” she said.

At LHHS, students interested in education follow the Public Services endorsement pathway. Students begin with Principles of Education, then move into Human Development. In their junior and senior year, students like Kate and Ella will take Ready, Set, Teach, a course that gives students real classroom experience by placing them with a teacher during part of the school day.

Kate and Ella’s path to nationals began at the area competition in Belton at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. To advance to state, students must earn a qualifying score. From there, the pair advanced to the state competition in San Antonio, where they received scores of 208 out of 212 from one judge and 204 out of 212 from another. Those scores earned them a trip to nationals in Portland. Their national-winning board was designed for second grade and focused on synonyms and antonyms.The board must be tied to specific grade-level learning standards, include a lesson plan and provide a hands-on interactive activity for students.

On one side of the board, students worked with “synonym rolls,” a clever play on cinnamon rolls. Kate and Ella created laminated cinnamon roll pieces, each labeled with a word. Students would pull a word from a pocket and match it to a broader word category, such as “happy” or “bad,” by placing the synonym roll into the correct square aluminum baking tin. On the antonym side, students created ants. Each student received an ant and worked with a partner to come up with two antonyms, writing one on each part of the ant. Students could color and decorate their ants before adding them to the board. The result was a lesson that was visual, hands-on, memorable and won the top prize in the nation in their category. The win was especially meaningful because the pair also qualified for nationals the year before and beat their third place win in the same event. 

Next summer, they hope to return to competition again, although they will move into the varsity division as juniors. They are also considering presenting a breakout session to fellow TAFE attendees. In addition to competition this school year, both students are stepping into leadership roles. Ella will serve as president of the LHHS TAFE chapter this upcoming year, and Kate will serve as vice president. Last year, the chapter had a dozen members, with several students competing at state. Kate and Ella were the only LHHS students to advance to nationals.

Their experience is also helping them prepare for college and future education programs. Some university education programs require interviews, applications and demonstrated experience. Through TAFE, Kate and Ella are already building a strong foundation. “I think it helps with my resume for getting into college,” Ella said. “I toured a couple of campuses this summer, and we talked about their education programs. Some schools require an interview, so I think TAFE could help prepare me for that.”

For Kate and Ella, the national title is exciting. The bigger story is what it represents: two students discovering their calling early, learning the craft of teaching, and already making an impact as future educators and national champions.