Dallas, Texas, July 31, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Uplift Education will award the 2019 Champion for Education awards to the late Dr. Susan Hull, Rep. Morgan Meyer, and Todd Williams for their individual contributions and diligent work across corporate, public, and pollical areas to ensure success for children across North Texas. The awards will be given at Uplift’s Convocation on August 1, 2019, at Verizon Theater in Grand Prairie which also welcomes back nearly 2,000 Uplift teachers ahead of the first day of school on August. 6.
“Each recipient has dedicated their lives to public service within their respective areas and has had a meaningful impact on education for both children at Uplift and across the state,” said Yasmin Bhatia, CEO of Uplift Education. “I’m honored to recognize their work as shining examples of service.”
Five years ago, Dr. Susan Hull asked Uplift to partner with Grand Prairie Independent School District on the creation of Uplift Lee Primary, the first in-district public charter school in North Texas. Dr. Hull spent 12 years as Superintendent of Grand Prairie ISD and pioneered schools of choice within the district. She was a third-generation superintendent following in the footsteps of her father and grandfather.
“She was deeply respected and trusted by leaders across the State and was truly beloved by the staff of GPISD. Dr. Hull was a great collaborator, passionate about the education of our youth, and she will be deeply missed,” Bhatia said.
Rep. Meyer has not only been a champion of Uplift during the most recent legislative session, which led to the passing of House Bill 3, but also an advocate for facilities funding for public charter schools across the state in the previous legislative session. House Bill 3 is transformative for schools, students, and staff at Uplift and across Texas.
In addition to being instrumental in the opening of Uplift Williams Preparatory, Todd Williams founded The Commit Partnership, which is the nation’s largest collective impact organization with more than 200 institutions focused on meaningfully improving post-secondary completion levels across the Dallas/Fort Worth area. His organization now impacts almost 800,000 students from the participating organizations that are part of the partnership. In addition to his work with Commit, Williams is a respected leader in education throughout the state and spent the last year researching and gathering input from across Texas as part of his work on the Texas Commission on Public School Finance to advise on House Bill 3.
Champion for Education Recipients
2012: Dallas City Council
2013: Rosemary Perlmeter, Ellen Wood
2014: Geoffrey Canada, Eric Johnson
2015: Howard Fuller, Rafael Anchia
2016: Erik Wilson, Jason Villalba
2017: Pizza Hut/Artie Starrs, Colleen Barrett, Alice Walton
2018: Alice Brown, Compass Professional Health Services/Scott Schoenvogel
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About Uplift Education
Uplift Education is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating a network of 43 tuition-free, college preparatory, public charter schools in Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, Irving, Grand Prairie and DeSoto serving students in Pre-K- 12th grades. Uplift schools provide a rigorous multidisciplinary curriculum with an emphasis on college preparation and the International Baccalaureate. Uplift is one of the Top 5 IB Districts in the nation, in number of authorized programmes, and educates nearly 19,000 students, with the majority being low-income and minority students who will be the first in their family to attend college. Uplift schools are public schools -- students are selected by a blind lottery with no information collected on their past academic performance.For more information, visit uplifteducation.org or facebook.com/uplifteducation.
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