Maybe our best days aren’t really over for good.
That was the overriding sentiment Thursday for a ballroom full of people on hand at The Fredonia Hotel & Convention Center for Nacogdoches ISD Education Foundation’s Scholars Banquet sponsored by Citizens 1st Bank.
With more than 250 people in the audience, the top 20 graduates of Nacogdoches High School’s Class of 2026 were honored. And those students, in turn, selected their Most Influential Educator. On video, both student and teacher spent a couple minutes explaining the influence each had on the other.
“There are teachers you remember, and then there are people who change you,” NHS senior Armaan Rajani said on video about his most influential educator, Rose Smith. “Ms. Smith is the second kind.”
The teachers were able to respond.
“You are a curator of kindness, a dancer through adversity, and a student of the world around you,” Heather Theiss said of senior Audrey McDermott. “You have the quiet resilience to do anything you set your mind to, and the grace to do it beautifully. Being chosen to represent you tonight is the biggest honor of my career.”
It was those types of exchanges NISD Superintendent Grey Burton zeroed in on during his closing remarks.
“If our best days aren’t still ahead of us, you need to listen to what we heard tonight,” he said. “At the beginning of our school year, I told our teachers that they are doing more than teaching. What they are doing is changing the trajectory of someone’s life, and that was never more apparent than what we’ve seen and heard tonight.”
The Foundation singled out its greatest benefactor, Elliott Electric founder and owner Bill Elliott. It was his offer a little more than a year ago to participate in a $500,000 match campaign that has helped the Foundation grow to an endowment of more than $1 million. After NEF reached the goal last year, Elliott committed to a second fund raising campaign.
In recognition of that generosity, he was named the group’s first Bill Elliott Legacy in Public Education Award.
“Tonight I have the honor of celebrating someone who ‘gets it,’” said Erin Windham, the Foundation’s executive director. “Because of you, doors have been opened, futures have been shaped and possibilities have expanded for students across our community.”
The Foundation also acknowledged former teacher Jody Franks, who died in 2024 following an extended illness. Franks was selected by senior Dayanara Paez-Luna. Franks’ mother, Dalyce Franks, was on hand to receive the award, and three former colleagues talked on video about Franks’ impact on NISD.
Before Thursday’s program got underway, Nacogdoches High School’s jazz band performed while attendees found their way to their tables and browsed over silent auction items.
Nacogdoches ISD Education Foundation is in its fourth year of existence. It helps connect community resources with the needs of the school district in order to support the mission of the school district, using funding to enhance and complement that mission, understanding that everyone in the community is responsible for creating a quality educational system.
Students and their most influential teacher: Ella Ainsworth, Elyse Meyer; Owen Allen, Kristin Thomas; Kate Basa, Andrew Touchette; Logan Bates, Lindy Arbuckle; John Remiel Bermudez, Mark Ampofo; Katelyn Frost, Marcie Netardus; Maddie Gayden, Arianna and Lary Lister; Avery Hardcastle, Aimee Lucena; Pepper Hill, Bailey Bowyer Arnold; Audrey McDermott, Heather Theiss; Grace McKinney, Penny Long; Myah Morrill, Rebecca Jaramillo; Dayanara Paez-Luna, Brian Trotty and Jody Franks; Armaan Rajani, Rose Smith; Abigail Roldan, James Nicholas; Hailey Shadow, Amanda Abbott; William Vermeulen, April Smith; Alexandra Willardson, Carrie Scroggins; Sophia Willardson, Jennifer Haveman; James Wright, Derek Theiss.