Sponsorship for this episode of Student Spotlight provided by Caesars Entertainment, consistently ranked one of the most community-minded companies in America.

We boast a culture of giving and social equity.

We're dedicated to investing in our communities.

We are caring for our environment, driving sustainability and preserving quality of life on Earth, and we are creating memorable experiences for our guests through innovation, engaging with diverse suppliers and through industry-leading responsible gaming practices.

People.

Planet.

Play.

It's our commitment to our guests, team members, suppliers, environment and communities.

♪♪♪ Energy never disappears.

♪♪♪ It simply gets passed on to the next person.

♪♪♪ And the next person after that until before you know it, the entire community can feel it.

We put our energy into more than just energy, because what's good for our community is good for all of us.

♪♪♪ CCSD is the fifth-largest school district in the nation, with student success as its number-one goal.

Join us as we meet student go-getters and goalsetters and discover their skills, talents and drive, plus meet the incredible staff who are helping students shine.

It's all here in Student Spotlight.

♪♪♪ -Hi, everyone.

I'm Melinda Malone.

-And I'm Mauricio Marin.

Welcome to Student Spotlight.

-We are so excited to share some very special stories during this next half hour.

This entire episode is focused on CCSD staff who help our students shine.

-Earlier this month Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara and leaders from the Public Education Foundation surprised four Clark County School District employees.

Those four staff members are the District's first-ever Employee of the Year Award winners.

-We know the impact they have on kids, and now so will you.

You'll meet the 2021 CCSD Teacher of the Year... -I think she deserves it because she's the best math teacher ever.

The Administrator of the Year... -She's kind of like the heartbeat of the school.

She's just an amazing person.

The Support Professional of the Year... -She's just an amazing person in general.

She always cares for you.

And the Central Administrator of the Year.

She is not afraid to tackle the challenges that we have faced.

We'll hear from each winner plus the coworkers and students who know them best.

-But before we get to the winners, we want to shine the spotlight on the Public Education Foundation.

The foundation is honoring these employees of the year at its big birthday gala.

Believe it or not, this year the foundation turns 30.

Located on Maryland Parkway not far from UNLV, the Public Education Foundation has a long history of supporting public schools in Southern Nevada.

It was established by Clark County leaders and education advocates who believed that improving public schools was too big of a task for a school district to take on alone.

♪♪♪ That core belief still holds true today.

Throughout the years, the Public Education Foundation has administered more than $20 million in scholarships to help students pursue post-secondary goals.

Teachers know the PEF for its Teacher Exchange.

I'm looking for goodies for my classroom to help me cut down my costs and to give the kids everything they need that I want them to have.

A place where they can shop for new and gently used classroom supplies.

Other initiatives like the Leadership Institute of Nevada have developed and inspired educators.

I've got a STEM workbook.

And most recently during the pandemic, the PEF worked alongside its partners to help families and students with everything from supplies to technology.

That's pretty incredible.

Now we're honored to turn the program over to Superintendent Dr. Jesus Jara and Public Education Foundation board chair Jan Jones Blackhurst.

(Dr. Jesus Jara) Thank you, Mauricio and Melinda.

I'm proud to serve on the board of the Public Education Foundation alongside incredible community members like our board chair, Jan Jones Blackhurst.

(Jan Jones Blackhurst) Thank you, Dr. Jara, and I can't tell you how delighted we are to have you on our board.

Through our work at the foundation, we've met some exceptional staff at CCSD who work tirelessly behind the scenes to make sure our students succeed, and that's why we're so pleased to help the District recognize these professionals for the first-ever CCSD Employee of the Year Awards.

So let's get started.

Please meet our 2021 Teacher of the Year.

(Melissa Tanner) I teach fourth grade at Sunrise Acres.

I've been teaching for 16 years, all at Sunrise Acres.

-And when we multiply by 10, the 100,000's became... (kids) Millions.

-Millions, excellent.

Go ahead and erase.

(Bastian Martinez) Ms. Tanner?

I like to describe her how she's really good in math, and she really likes math.

(Ayden Monterroso) We do so much fun equations and math problems so it's really fun for me.

-It was always my dream.

My mom is a teacher, and she is the most phenomenal teacher I've ever been able to observe, and she inspired me.

I saw what a difference she was making in her students' lives, and I knew that's all I wanted to do.

(Jeanne Iverson) Ms. Tanner is one of the best teachers I've ever known.

She truly has the heart of teaching, and she really is just-- she emulates the excellence.

(Zurisadai Martinez) I want people to know how hard she works and how she's one of the best teachers I've ever known.

I had her fourth grade, and she actually helped me learn a lot in fourth grade especially since it was really hard throughout the pandemic.

(Valeria Chacon) She's the nicest.

She helps you a lot if you struggle.

She is just honestly the best.

(Emily Nev) She's a really great, awesome teacher.

I really love her, and my family does too.

-I love that my students who have graduated can still come back and they know I'm here, and I get a lot of former students who come back at the gate just to say hi, to let me know how they're doing, and that's so important to me.

It makes me feel like what I'm doing matters.

-She inspires our students.

She believes in them, and you know she believes in them.

She not only does a great job in the classroom, but she's able to help outside of the classroom.

She's always working with teachers to show them different and innovative ways to teach students.

-You don't know why we're here?

(kids) No.

-We're here because you are in the class with our Clark County School District Teacher of the Year!

(cheers and applause) -It was shocking.

I was so proud, and it was just such an-- I don't know, I never expected to win.

-I think she deserves it because she's the best math teacher ever.

-She is just honestly the best.

She probably deserves more.

She's been here working for a really long time, and I know she loves all of us and she really deserves the award.

-I love Sunrise Acres.

I think we have the best students.

The kids are amazing; they work so hard.

So amazing to be part of that.

-We are so proud of Ms. Tanner.

Congratulations, and thank you for all that you do for our students.

-Teachers have such a big impact on our children, but they aren't the only ones.

The Clark County School District employs more than 12,000 support professionals.

Support professionals drive the buses, clean our schools, help with clerical work and serve as teachers' aides.

I'm honored to introduce you to the CCSD 2021 Support Professional of the Year.

(Cormella Belt) I started with the Clark County School District in 2004, and I moved over to Mike O'Callaghan Middle School in the 2008-2009 school year.

Do you love it?

-I love it.

I love it.

Yes, I love it.

(Ana Crosby) Ms. Belt is everything you could ever want in a support employee.

She embodies so many skills that are so positive for our school community.

She is a team player.

She has great customer service.

What I really love about Ms. Belt, Cormella, is that she also connects with kids.

-How are you going to see me smile?

-Your eyes!

(laughter) (Gabriella Gutierrez) She's just an amazing person in general.

She always cares for you and makes sure you're on top of things.

-Well, I like the students.

I like being able to help the students.

I like being able to help the administrators and my coworkers.

It reminds me of having a strong family, so us all working together is like family.

-She works in the student success office now.

The kids trust her because they know that she truly cares about them, and she's going to start working with them and figure out what the issue is.

(Julianna Gonzalez) She's always in a good mood.

When I walk in the door, she's always saying good morning, how are you?

It feels amazing because you have someone who is asking you this question.

Like if you have a bad-- if you wake up on the wrong side of the bed and then you see someone saying good morning, how are you, it just brings joy.

-I love working with students.

I love that sometimes they just open up to me, tell me stuff they want me to know or-- I don't know, I just like working with them.

-Kids are willing to talk to her and be honest with her because they know that she's very genuine.

-She takes time out of her day to ask those things to you when she doesn't need to.

(cheers and applause) Our first-ever Support Professional of the Year winner.

-I feel like she really deserves it.

It's her time to get in the spotlight.

-Of course she deserves it.

She does.

She wants to make sure you have a good education, your grades are well.

-We couldn't do what we do without our support professionals, and especially Ms. Belt.

-Great.

It feels great for all the hard work we do.

-Thank you for all of your incredible work to support our students.

-Being a principal or assistant principal is a tough but rewarding job.

Our 2021 School Administrator of the Year has a motto: "We grow all students."

Please meet our next award winner, the principal at Judith D. Steele Elementary School.

(Lynn Walker) The best thing about being a principal is just being with the students every day and just being part of the community.

(Payson Shelton) I see her every morning at the gate, and I see her at lunch.

She's the nicest principal ever.

(Sky Arrendondo) Ms. Walker is really responsible and kind to all students.

(Tiffany Nay) Ms. Walker has been at our school for about five years.

I think her mission is everybody that walks through our door is better because they came to Steele-- every student, every parent, every teacher-- and she models that in her own behavior as a principal and as a leader.

(Alan Westwood) She's everywhere.

She comes up with great ideas, and not only have the test scores improved, what we've done is we've closed the gap.

At the time we were the only school in Nevada to receive the National Blue Ribbon for closing the achievement gap.

-Our emphasis is always on relationships.

Kids aren't going to learn unless they know that you care about them.

Staff is not going to work for you unless they know that you care about them.

So building those relationships with everybody who comes on our campus is the most important thing, because if I know you and I care about you, then you're willing to move mountains for me.

(Natalia Lozano) I would describe her as a really caring person.

When other people are having troubles, we know that she'll always be there for us.

-We laugh because she's running in heels.

But she's in and out of classrooms.

She knows the names of every student.

(Flint Lebel) I think what's super-amazing is that she knows everybody's name.

-737 kids.

If I don't know their first name, I know their last name.

♪♪♪ Hello.

-Hi.

-How are you?

-Good.

-Do you know who this is?

Who is she?

(kids) Ms. Walker.

-She is CCSD Principal of the Year!

(cheers and applause) I am beyond ecstatic for her.

I think when you look at great-achieving schools, it always starts with the leadership and that's what she models, so she has earned it 100%.

-I'm really proud of her.

It's like really big for her to win.

She's very hard working, and she does lots of great things for us.

-I'm really glad you won the principal.

-I'm just incredibly moved and humbled to have the chance to be honored like this.

Principals work so hard, and especially in this past year, it's been super-challenging.

So to be singled out in this way, I'm lucky enough to have been recognized but there's amazing work going on in all the schools.

-Thank you for doing so much for our kids.

-You don't have to work inside a school to impact students.

The 2021 Central Administrator of the Year is a dedicated leader who has been with the Clark County School District for more than 25 years.

Her job?

Making sure all of the District's 42,000 employees get paid.

(Denise Farleigh) So I oversee the payroll department as well as the employee benefits department for the School District.

It is a very responsible job, one that I absolutely love.

I've been doing this for-- this is my 26th year, 25 of those years in the payroll department.

(Colleen Buescher) So Denise is first and foremost an incredible human being.

She has compassion, empathy, integrity.

She has all the traits that you would want in a friend, in a leader and as a coworker.

(Andrea Marquez) She's very smart, she's extremely funny, and she knows like when everything is tense, how to actually lighten the room but keep you going and keep you finishing the task.

-Every single day we try to remember that our customer is most important, so customer service is very important to us obviously, first and foremost.

Making sure that everybody gets paid on time and accurately is our goal every single day.

(Jason Goudie) She's done an outstanding job over the last year, as she's handled the COVID and all the changes that are required from a payroll perspective as well as we've underwent a new system, which was challenging.

-We transitioned in January of 2020 from an old legacy system, which we were very familiar with obviously, to the new PeopleSoft system.

We worked many, many, many hours throughout that first year but again, it goes back to my team.

They didn't miss a single day.

They worked late every night.

They worked weekends, never a complaint.

-She just like jumps in.

You're not alone.

She works right with you, so she doesn't leave anybody behind.

-She's an outstanding leader for a bunch of reasons, and her team is outstanding.

She was able to listen to them, understand their challenges, work with them on working from home as well as coming into the office.

-She actually knows and is aware of everybody's strengths, and that's what she says.

She says everybody has their own strength that they bring to the team to help execute like processing payroll and being on time.

-Congratulaions to you.

You are Central Office Administrator of the Year.

(cheers and applause) I was absolutely shocked, flabbergasted.

I feel unworthy of that, quite honestly.

-It's amazing.

-We couldn't, you know, ask for anyone else to receive this award.

-I'm very proud of the Clark County School District.

We've been through a lot in the last year, and we are a team.

We all have a common goal.

We all work together, and when we all work together, we have success.

So I like to just think of me in winning this award really as just a spotlight on one of many who have worked tirelessly to raise the District up and do our best, our best every day for our students.

-Congratulations, and thank you for all you do.

Finally, we want to give a shout-out to the CCSD teacher who made national headlines.

She's one of our Leadership Institute of Nevada alumni, and we're so incredibly proud of her.

-Juliana Urtubey, a special education teacher at Booker Elementary School, was named the National Teacher of the Year.

She is known by her students as Ms. Earth.

Our cameras were there for the big announcement.

(Juliana Urtubey) I'm advocating for a joyous and just education.

By joyous I mean that every student has a deep sense of belonging in their school because the school uplifts who they are.

And by just, I mean the teachers are working collectively to build educational learning spaces where we give students everything they need to thrive.

One of the things that I love the most is I love learning in the garden.

The garden was a metaphor for having a growth mindset.

A growth mindset means you know you can learn, that the brain is malleable, and that is so powerful for people with thinking and learning differences, and mistakes are a critical part of our learning.

We have to be responsive to who our communities are.

I think my secret is being able to connect not just with my students but their families and community.

I take the time to understand who they are, their journeys, their struggles, their stories, and uplift them in a way that brings their strengths forward.

Creating spaces in schools where families feel nurtured and welcome upon entrance is key.

All of our families need to feel that, and we know that right now they don't so we need to make sure we are looking inward and really assessing what the barriers are and working actively to dismantle those barriers and recreate possibilities for children.

-Ms. Urtubey is the first National Teacher of the Year from Nevada.

She is spending the year serving as an ambassador for students and teachers across the nation.

-On behalf of the Public Education Foundation, thank you for letting us be part of the inaugural CCSD Employee of the Year Awards.

-And thank you for 30 years of serving our schools, and here's to 30 more years of making the Clark County School District number one for kids.

And now let's send it back to Melinda and Mauricio.

-Thank you so much, both of you, and congratulations again to all of the 2021 Employee of the Year Award winners.

That does it for this edition of Student Spotlight.

-If you know of a student or staff member who you think we should spotlight, please let us know.

They could end up on the program.

Email the Clark County School District's communications office at communications@nv.ccsd.net.

We're going to leave you with some more footage of the winners being surprised.

A big thank you to all of CCSD's 42,000 employees for the job you do every day to support our students.

We'll see you next month.

♪♪♪ Sponsorship for this episode of Student Spotlight provided by Caesars Entertainment, consistently ranked one of the most community-minded companies in America.

We boast a culture of giving and social equity.

We're dedicated to investing in our communities.

We are caring for our environment, driving sustainability and preserving quality of life on Earth, and we are creating memorable experiences for our guests through innovation, engaging with diverse suppliers and through industry-leading responsible gaming practices.

People.

Planet.

Play.

It's our commitment to our guests, team members, suppliers, environment and communities.

♪♪♪ Energy never disappears.

♪♪♪ It simply gets passed on to the next person.

♪♪♪ And the next person after that until before you know it, the entire community can feel it.

We put our energy into more than just energy, because what's good for our community is good for all of us.