Sonoma Elementary teacher wins $25,000 Milken Educator Award
This story initially has been updated to clarify that the cash prize is unrestricted and not a grant.
LAS CRUCES − Assemblies at Sonoma Elementary School are frequently punctuated by a call and response: An adult calls out, "Six houses!" and nearly 800 students respond in a deafening roar, "One school!"
Fourth-grade teacher Christopher Nuñez was an advocate of establishing six "houses" as a way of forging bonds among students and focus attention on interrelated skills and virtues.
On Friday morning, there were frequent shouts of "Six houses! One school!" during a visit from New Mexico Secretary of Education Kurt Steinhaus, four members of the Las Cruces Board of Education and other local officials along with representatives from the Milken Family Foundation.
And Nuñez looked stunned when the visitors announced him as New Mexico's sole recipient of a $25,000 Milken Educator Award this year.
Milken Educator Awards senior vice-president Jane Foley, an educator who received the honor herself in 1994, led the presentation as part of a national tour honoring up to 40 teachers on behalf of the California-based Milken Family Foundation.
The foundation refers to the award as "the Oscars of teaching," presented to outstanding teachers in early or mid-career since 1987. The $25,000 prize is unrestricted and goes to the teachers directly, along with a fully paid trip to Los Angeles for a Milken Educator Awards Forum.
Consistent with the "Six Houses, One School" creed, Nuñez paid tribute to his colleagues and his students most of all: "Without the staff here, without the support staff here, without the awesome students that we have here at Sonoma, it's impossible to get something like this."
According to the foundation, there is no formal application or nomination process for the award. The confidential process involves "blue ribbon panels" that review candidates for submission and approval by the foundation.
Nuñez was honored by the foundation for his project-based math education and incorporation of technology, his role on the school's leadership team and extensive involvement in after-school activities. His students were reported to have high proficiency scores on math and reading assessments — 100 percent and 92 percent, respectively.
"His efforts to amplify the social and academic skills of every child in his class are evident in the high performance of his students," Steinhaus said in a statement. At the ceremony, Steinhaus limited his role to rallying the students and introducing Foley.
A 2009 alumnus of New Mexico State University, Nuñez comes from a family of educators: Not only both of his parents, but his grandfather, David Nuñez, who was present at Friday's ceremony.
When handed a microphone and asked to speak, the young teacher addressed his students.
"I've been teaching for about 14 years now. I've gone through about three or four classes of high school graduates, and now they're about to graduate from college themselves," he said. "It's crazy to see you guys grow up and I hope you never forget your experiences in elementary."
As one school, the auditorium erupted in cheers once more.
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Algernon D'Ammassa can be reached at 575-541-5451, adammassa@lcsun-news.com or @AlgernonWrites on Twitter.
This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Sonoma Elementary Las Cruces teacher wins $25,000 Milken Educator Award