Classroom Teachers

Voting was held recently and the staff of Memorial chose Seema Shah as Experienced Teacher of the Year and Mayra Trejo as Beginning Teacher of the Year.

	Ms. Shah began her teaching career by first substituting in Carrollton, Texas. After 6 months, she taught 5th and 6th graders in Dallas.  Then she landed a job at Memorial Elementary where she has taught 4th and 5th graders.  Now, she gets to work with all ages of children as a Literacy Support Specialist.  In her spare time, Ms. Shah enjoys eating at restaurants, hanging out with her friends, and keeping up with the Dallas Cowboys and Dallas Mavericks.
Ms. Shah was born in Boston, Massachusetts.  She moved to Texas when she was in first grade. She always had a heart for teaching, but she took the unexpected route to get there.  Ms. Shah studied business at The University of Texas at Austin and upon graduation she realized that teaching truly was her passion!
Mrs. Trejo was born in Harbor City, California and was raised in the San Fernando Valley.  Mrs. Trejo graduated from California State University, Northridge with a major in Psychology.  She wanted to work as a child psychologist.  She knew that she wanted to make an impact in young lives.  It was then that she decided that the best way to accomplish her goal was to become an elementary school teacher.  Mrs. Trejo received her teaching certification through an alternative certification program.  She began her teaching career in October of 2006 as a substitute teacher. On January of 2007 she was hired as a 4th grade bilingual teacher at Memorial Elementary.  She has since been part of the Marvelous Memorial Staff.     On her free time she enjoys spending time with her 2 year old daughter and husband.

Memorial has a WONDERFUL staff of teachers

The Kindergarten Team Leaders are Michelle Cohen and Jessica Seidler. Other members of her team are Lois Mimms, Carla Armstrong, Maria Sucre and Susie Bardin. They have such a love for these children starting out in school. This is such a special time and full of so many changes for these kids. 

In First Grade, Kimberly Myrick is the team leader.  Working with her and a happy bunch of First Graders are Nancy Rich, Karen Davison, Sandy Lucas, Leslie Aponte, Katie Wright and Denise Salazar.

Our Second Grade team is led by Sharon Corzine.  The other members of the team are Leslie Nichols, Tammy Froman, Cecil Candelario, Danae Delgado and Gloria Martinez.

Third Grade's team leaders is Jessica Brice. Other teachers are Allison Kaplan, Mandy Brock, Liliana McCallion, Millie Lebron and Hugh Madrigal.

Fourth Grade team leaders are Karen Sanabria and Anita Smith. Other team members are Mayra Trejo, Linda Starry, Jenny Owen, Erin Krombach and Tara Brandenburg. They have been busy planning for an exciting year.

The very active Fifth Graders are directed by Marcela Ross, team leader, Michelle Janah, Claudia Cortes, Bethany Benton and Tera Harrison.

My name is Marcela Ross. I was born in Cd. Juarez, Chih and am the oldest of two children. I received my degree from the University of Texas at El Paso in Broadcasting. I have been married for five years and am the proud mother of three lovely girls. I have been teaching at Memorial for three years.

Michelle Janah has been teaching for twelve years with the last seven in elementary. She has also taught middle and high school. Michelle has been married for four years and has a three year old son, Adam, and 18 month old daughter, Sofia. She loves to travel, cook and spend time with her family.

Claudia Cortes is one of the bilingual teachers and one of the math teachers. She is married and has a daughter that is a little older than one year named Katia. This is her first year to teacher 5th grade after teaching 3rd for several years. Fifth grade has been a great adventure for her.

Bethany Benton has lived in Texas for four years now having moved here from Alabama. She graduated with both a bachelor's and master's degree in education from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama. Mrs. Benton has been married for six years and has a 17 month old daughter. She loves to play soccer and even played a few years in college. She is a fitness instructor for StrollerFit also.

Tera Harrison grew up in Oklahoma City and went to college at Oklahome State University. She has taught in public schools for four years. She is married with with two children. During her free time she enjoys spending time with her family and being outdoors. She also loves animals.

P.E. is a fun time for the students with Coaches Brook Reeves, Kris Baker and Kelly Eichelberger.  P.E. is always an active place!

Along with the regular classroom teachers, there is a team of support staff that no school could do without. The terrific Memorial Library is directed by Betty Koonce. Preparing students for learning are Victoria Cole, the Literacy Specialist and Seema Shah assisting the Title One students. Pilar Westfried is the Bilingual Literacy Specialist along with Gregi Lopez. . Christy Pine is Memorial's Math Support Specialist. Lillian Stankunas is the PACE teacher and Dolores Kotara leads the Discovery program. Beverlea Gilbert and Roxie Daryapayma are our ESOL teachers. We also have a great music program led by Kristen Roemer and the beautiful art work that you see around the building is created under the leadership of Colin McGrane. We are served by Jennifer Erp as our counselor. We have a Newcomers Class this year led by Evie Tomlinson.

Memorial's Special Education staff prides itself in encouraging our students to be life-long learners by tailoring their instruction to meet individual academic needs.  Members of the team include: Lanette Brunott, Lori Butler, Joanne Cox, Indira Curtis, Sue Sue Davis, Ruby Duenas, Mary Heislen, Donna Hougen, Rosario Juarez, Linda Millen, Marilyn Oliphant, Michelle Phillips, Jackie Rivera, Anna Rozell, Reggi Smith, Erik Thode, Carol Truscott, Angela Williams.  This teams educational background and individual diversity lends itself to the betterment of our school-wide community.