Photo by Breanna Higgins
STAFF REPORTS
Chapa Middle School Principal Lisa Walls was honored as one of five secondary school principals in Texas who have been named finalists in the HEB Excellence in Education Awards.
As a finalist, Walls earned a $1,000 cash prize from HEB for herself and $2,500 for the campus. She is now invited to Houston in early May to compete on a statewide level. A panel of judges will interview the five finalists in her category. If she is named the 2012 HEB Excellence in Education secondary principal award winner, she will earn $10,000 for herself and $25,000 for Chapa Middle School.
“Failure is not an option. I know that sounds cliché but it is a tenet we hold dear at Chapa,” wrote Walls in one of five essays she had to complete as part of the award application process. Walls was a first year principal when she led the opening of Chapa Middle School in 2006 but within four years, the campus earned the Texas Education Agency distinction of being a Recognized campus. A year later, under Walls’ leadership, Chapa was named a Texas School to Watch and a National School to Watch.
Prior to being named the founding principal of Chapa Middle School, Walls served as an assistant principal at Lehman High School and Wallace Middle School. She was also a 5th grade bilingual teacher at Hemphill Elementary School and a 1st and 2nd grade teacher at a school in another district. She earned both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Texas State University in San Marcos.
