Paul Kelleher, Trinity University,
Karen LaPorte Pumphrey, Northside
ISD, 2009 Trinity Prize Recipient;
John Folks, Superintendent, North-
side ISD.
(L-R) Paul Kelleher, Trinity University;
Louis Sifuentes, Fort Sam Houston ISD,
2009 Trinity Prize Recipient; Major General
Russell Czerw, Commander of the U.S. Army
Medical Department Center and School and
Fort Sam Houston.
2008-2009
Trinity Prize

for Excellence
in Teaching
Trinity’s department of education instituted the Trinity Prize for Excellence in Teaching in 1981- 1982 to
recognize and honor truly exceptional public school teachers in Bexar County and, by extension, teaching as a
profession. The prize carries a cash award of $2,500.
A blue-ribbon selection committee of community leaders and outstanding education students is entrusted
with choosing the two winners from a group of 20 Distinguished Educators nominated by the CEL school
districts.
On April 17, 2009, Dr. Michael Fischer, vice president for academic affairs at Trinity University, pre-
sented the Trinity Prize to Louis Sifuentes, a math teacher at Robert G. Cole Middle/High School in the Fort
Sam Houston ISD, and to Karen LaPorte Pumphrey, applied learning environment teacher, at Tom C. Clark
High School in Northside ISD.
Since many of Mr. Sifuentes’ students have parents deployed to war zones or recovering from injuries, he
says he must reach them before he can teach them. Among the extra support he gives his students is tutoring
sessions during lunch and after school at what he calls Cole University.
Ms. Pumphrey teaches developmentally challenged students including refugees from Somalia and Af-
ghanistan as well as those with autism and visual impairment. She created Friends Having Fun clubs in which
students meet to socialize with their non-disabled peers at events such as spaghetti dinners, karaoke nights and
ranch camps that have become models for similar clubs at other district high schools.
Further honoring the winners, the H-E-B Kappa Delta Pi Lecture was given by Michael Geisen, 2008
National Teacher of the Year. Geisen teaches science at Crook County Middle School in Prineville, Ore.
Trinity thanks the San Antonio Express-News and H-E-B for their partnership in the Trinity Prize.
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