ED311 is proud to present this year’s Frank R. Kemerer award to Michael Hjort of Rouse High School in Leander, Texas.
A nice biography of Mr. Hjort, taken from his webpage:
I have been a proud member of Raider Nation since 2009 (2nd year Rouse opened) and was the original tennis coach at Rouse (2009 – 2015) and then the UIL Academic Coordinator along with the UIL Social Studies coach (2019, 2022, 2023 5A State Champion). I teach AP US History, AP Human Geography, along with coaching the Boys and Girls golf teams (Boys: District Champions 2022,2023; Girls: Runner-up District Champions 2023) and during the summer I lead AP Summer Institutes teaching AP US History teachers how to approach this course. I just finished my 26th year of teaching and 20th year teaching AP US History, and 4th year teaching AP Human Geography. I’ve been lucky enough to play golf on the AZ junior tour and at the collegiate level (Glendale Community College and Grand Canyon University) along with coaching the golf team at Tolleson Union HS between 1998 – 2006 (HOF at TUHS 2009). I’ve been married to my lovely wife Kristy since November 6, 1993, and my son Tyler (Vista Ridge 2015 graduate) is married to his wife Savana, and our family celebrated their daughter’s/our granddaughters 1st birthday July 29th. My daughter Reagan (Rouse 2016 graduate) graduated from Texas A&M in 2019 and is working for Applied Materials in supply chain management. She is engaged to get married in 2024.
The Frank R. Kemerer award recognizes an outstanding high school social studies teacher, and it is named for Dr. Frank Kemerer, a longtime professor in the Education Department at the University of North Texas. Dr. Kemerer’s teaching and writing consistently displayed a level of scholarship and professionalism that set a high standard for his students, many of whom now serve as teachers or administrators in Texas public schools.
On June 11th Mr. Hjort will be honored at the 2024 Education Law for Principals Conference, and he will be awarded with a $3000 prize.
We are proud to bestow this year’s award upon such a deserving and special educator. Congratulations to Mr. Hjort! And to the Rouse High School community—they are very lucky to have him!
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