Jason Torres-Rangel, chair of the English department at UCLA Community School, has been named an Inspirational Teacher of 2015 by United Way of Greater Los Angeles. The UCLA Community School is a partnership between the UCLA Graduate School of Education and Information Studies (GSEIS) and the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). Among his contributions to the Community School, he helped develop a unique seminar elective program that includes classes such as yoga, electrical engineering, sign language, entomology, sailing and more. Torres-Rangel is also a fellow in the GSEIS Writing Project and a mentor teacher in the school’s Center X Teacher Education Program.
Torres-Rangel and 11 GSEIS alumni also selected for this distinction comprised nearly half of a total 25 educators recognized for innovative teaching in Los Angeles schools. The award reflects United Way's commitment to celebrating teachers and the teaching profession as a means to break the cycle of poverty through a quality education and enhancing the lives of the next generation of leaders. The recipients, selected by a group of LAUSD educators in collaboration with United Way, were chosen from hundreds of nominations.
The GSEIS alumni awardees are:
- Hector V. Perez-Roman, AP world history and geography teacher at Arleta High School
- Sasha Guzman, social studies teacher at Social Justice Humanitas Academy
- Roxana Duenas, cultural geography and history teacher at Roosevelt High School
- Patricia Kay Hanson, social studies teacher at Augustus F. Hawkins Community Health Advocates High School
- Lauryn England, 3rd grade teacher at 99th Street Elementary School
- Mark Gomez, history teacher at Critical Design and Gaming School
- Shanika Honeycutt, 8th grade math and leadership teacher at Luther Burbank Middle School
- Dana Carli Brooks, leadership, government and history teacher at East Valley High School
- Katie Rainge-Brigss, social studies teacher at Augustus F. Hawkins Responsible Indigenous Social Entrepreneurship School
- Fedora Schooler, 6th grade teacher at El Sereno Middle School
- Maricela Rodriguez, elementary school teacher at Amanecer Primary Center
