April 2023
Made With Pride April 2023
Each month, Duncanville ISD honors a student, staff member, and teacher who go above and beyond. They are chosen from nominations submitted by coworkers, classmates, or community members. These individuals reflect the excellence and pride of our district, and they are Made with Pride in Duncanville.
Teacher
Sharon Presley is a Functional Academics teacher at Duncanville High School. Currently,
Currently, Ms. Presley teaches Functional English 1-4, World History, World Geography, and American History. She has worked at DISD for 40 years and plans to retire at the end of the year. During Ms. Presly's lengthy and full career, she has not been just an educator but a coach and co-coach to the Duncanville Special Olympics Team since 1988.
Ms. Presley is certified to coach: bowling, swimming, bocce, rhythmic gymnastics, golf, basketball, track and field, aquatics, stand-up paddle boarding, kayaking, and sailing. Under Ms. Presley's leadership, the Duncanville Special Olympics team has won thousands of medals with elementary, intermediate, middle, and high school students in local, district, and state competitions. Ms. Presley's students have competed and won at the Special Olympic National and World Games and accompanied them to Ireland, China, and Greece.
National Games: 2015-Washington State-Silver Medal Stand-up Paddle Boarding
Special Olympic World Games:
2003-Ireland-4 Golds in Sailing
2007-China-2 Golds in Sailing
2011-Greece-2 Golds Sailing
2015-Los Angeles Attended as a Chaperone with the DHS Sparklers
2019-Abu Dubai-2 Silvers in Sailing
For this year's international games, Ms. Presely will have a couple of students partake in the Berlin games in Sailing with a sponsorship from The Corinthian Sailing Club at White Rock Lake. Ms. Presley's dedication to Duncanville ISD's special needs students as well as her continued work with Special Olympics without a doubt makes her "Made with Pride In Duncanville."
Student
Michiah Joseph is a punctual and respectful 10th-grader at Duncanville High School. Michiah is know to be respectful of the janitorial staff, his teacher, and the classroom environment. According to his teacher Ms. Andrea Adams, his punctuality saved her classroom equipment. "Michiah is always sitting outside my door first thing in the morning," explains Ms. Adams. "One morning last week, I noticed my door slightly opened. Before I could say anything, Michiah handed me a set of keys left in the door when he arrived at school." Ms. Adams said she had calculators, computers, and other valuables in the room, and Michiah did not enter and told his other classmates not to enter until his teacher arrived. Ms. Adams appreciated Michiah turning in the keys and not taking advantage of an open classroom. Michiah demonstrated respect for the janitor staff, myself, and the classroom.
Staff
Cancdice Edwards is the Campus Secretary at Charles Acton Leadership Academy Elementary School. The title secretary does not even begin to describe Ms. Candice. Her colleague and district coordinator Candace Wilson, says that Ms. Edwards is the knower and doer of ALL things on campus. "On any given day, you might see her doing cafeteria duty (which she signed up for), cleaning up the bathroom after a plumbing mishap while we wait for maintenance, comforting a student who is having a rough morning, talking with some 4th graders about how their grades look, or working in the book room around textbook season before leaving on the SPED bus where she is monitoring after school for our kids and Kennemer," This type of dedication to her campus and forward-thinking aids in moving the campus culture forward. Ms. Edwards doesn't just go beyond her duties, but according to campus colleagues, she is always learning and willing to ask to help with tasks that will increase campus culture. Ms. Candice is an integral part of the leadership team, and Acton Elementary is privileged to have her!