Blair Teachers Recognized For Excellence

Of course, Blair family already knew they were great, but Ms. Christine McLaughlin and Ms. Maria Teresa Garcia have recently received special honors for their teaching. Also, just announced on May 23rd, Ms. Benita Scheckel was named a finalist for the Grammy Foundation Music Educator Award!

Ms. McLaughlin was named a 2013 Pasadena Rotary Teacher of Excellence and was recognized earlier this month along with four other honorees. Ms. McLaughlin started teaching at Blair with its inaugural 6th grade class in 2009 and currently teaches 7th grade English. Last year she joined Ovation’s performance of Footloose, singing, acting and dancing the part of the mom, Ethel. A PUSD graduate herself, Ms. McLaughlin is currently Blair School Site Council president. Watch this video to see her in action in the classroom!

Ms. Maria Teresa Garcia was chosen teacher of the year by the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC). The ceremony took place at Washington Middle School on May 11, 2013. Ms. Garcia teaches in Blair’s Newcomer Center, now renamed International Academy, and many of her current and former students and their families attended the event to honor her. She has been teaching English learners for ten years.

Blair’s multi-talented Ms. Benita Scheckel has been selected from 30,000 nominations nationwide to be one of 217 quarterfinalists for the Music Educator Award from the Recording Academy and Grammy Foundation! Besides teaching choir and drama classes, and in the past English classes, Ms. Scheckel directs Blair’s audition choir, BIBS, and directs and produces Blair’s annual musical theatre production, Ovations. She is also Coordinator for Blair’s International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme curriculum for all Blair students in grades 6-10. She will be even busier this summer as the musical she co-wrote, Bend in the Road, will have its East Coast premiere in New York.

Congratulations to Ms. McLaughlin, Ms. Garcia and Ms. Scheckel, and Blair School is grateful to you for making it great!