El Paso teacher gets statewide honor from VFW

Dave Burge
·2 min read

EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — An El Paso teacher has received a statewide honor from one of Texas’ most prestigious veterans organizations.

The Texas Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) named Chandra Chapman as its Citizenship Education Teacher of the Year for grades K-5.

Chapman, a 10-year Navy veteran, teaches at Vista Del Sol Environmental Science Academy in the Socorro Independent School District.

Chapman will represent Texas in the VFW’s national competition.

This year, 277 teachers from across Texas were nominated for this honor.

Chapman was nominated by Yucca VFW Post 8919, District 10.

Chapman coordinated production of a video featuring high school JROTC students demonstrating the proper way to recite the pledge of allegiance to the U.S. flag and the Texas flag. The video was streamed into the 50 schools in Socorro ISD, reaching over 47,000 students, according to a news release sent out announcing the honor.

VFW District 10, which encompasses El Paso, Hudspeth, and Culberson counties, announced the winners of the competitions at the district level, as well.

In addition to Chapman, who was named District 10 Citizenship Education Teacher of the Year K-5, Nubia Zamora of Parkland Pre-Engineering Middle School was named District 10 Citizenship Education Teacher of the Year 6-8, and Holly Lopez of Mountain View High School was named District 10 Citizenship Education Teacher of the Year 9-12.

Each year nearly 68,800 students in grades 6-8 enter the VFW’s Patriot’s Pen youth essay contest for a chance to win their share of more than $1.4 million in state and national awards. Haim Yoo, a seventh-grader at Parkland Pre-Engineering Middle School, was named the District 10 winner of the Patriot’s Pen competition.

Since 1947, the Voice of Democracy has been the VFW’s top scholarship program. Each year nearly 27,000 high school students compete for more than $2 million in scholarships and incentives. Students compete by writing and recording an audio essay on a patriotic theme. Mara Narvaez, a 12th grader at El Paso High School, was named the District 10 winner of the Voice of Democracy competition.

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