Lewisville Morning Rotary recognizes Vocational Hero, HHS Special Ed Teacher Karen Cummings

Posted by John Pokorny on Mar 29, 2017

On March 23rd, the Lewisville Morning Rotary Club honored Hebron High School Special Education Teacher Karen Cummings as our Teaching Vocational Hero.

Rotary believes that Vocations are an opportunity to serve humanity. And, no one serves humanity more than our teachers, police officers and firemen. Consequently, Rotary clubs throughout District 5790 have been honoring the outstanding vocational hero's in our district.

Karen was nominated by Hebron High School leadership for her outstanding dedication to the special needs children of Hebron High School. Karen is a graduate of the University of Texas in Dallas. She has been married to her husband Don for 36 years an has two daughters Lauren and Lindsey.

Lewisville Morning Rotary has gotten to know Karen when she attends one of our meetings where we honor a Student of the Month from the Special Ed program. Clearly she has had an impact on these students and their families.

Congratulations Hebron High School Vocational Hero, Karen Cummings!

Karen has been with the Lewisville ISD School System for 11 years.

Karen's responsibilities include being the teacher of record for students with developing and implementing their Individual Educational Programs, teaching them skills they need now and helping them prepare for the future (i.e.: academic, work, social and life skills). The best way to help them is through getting to know these as well as their family, because ideally we are all a team.

Karens Awards & Acknowledgements

Co-sponsor of Circle of Friends Club, August 2007 to present. Helped redevelop the Circle of Friends Club at Hebron High School. Our club’s objective is to foster friendships between the general and special population students in our school. Circle of Friends has grown tremendously over the past several years. We have over 50 active members who serve as mentor buddies to our special needs students. Many spend their block lunch every day eating with our special needs students, talking and playing games in our room. We take community trips, pairing the mentors with our students to model typical teenage behavior. The culmination of our school year is the Grand Ball that is our special needs prom. The buddies find creative ways to ask our students if they would be their dates for the evening. The joy it brings to all involved is palpable in the room. Our students are taken in limousines to meet their dates at a country club where we have dinner and a dancing. A slide show is presented during the evening created from pictures taken throughout the year’s events. Each year we have around 110 students, families, faculty/staff, and city elected officials attend.
Before/After school Detention teacher, Hebron High School August 2010 to present.
Building Leadership Team, Hebron High School, 2016/2017 school year.
Lewisville Morning Rotary Club Teacher of the Month, March 2017.

Thanks to Karens leadership, Hebron High School Circle of Friends Ball makes prom a reality for the Special Needs Students at Hebron High School