Llano history teacher gets statewide award
Llano Junior High School history teacher Nichole Ritchie (far right) with her seventh-grade Texas History class on a recent field trip to the Alamo in San Antonio. Ritchie will be given the Mirabeau B. Lamar Teacher of Texas History Award at the San Jacinto Descendants’ annual meeting and awards luncheon on April 6 in LaPorte. Photo courtesy of Nichole Ritchie
Llano Junior High School history teacher Nichole Ritchie will receive the Mirabeau B. Lamar Teacher of Texas History Award from the San Jacinto Descendants at the group’s annual meeting and awards luncheon on April 6 in LaPorte. The award is presented each year to “teachers who have exhibited extraordinary qualities in instructing Texas history,” according to a notification sent to Ritchie.
“I am only the 27th to ever be given this award,” she said. “I am very honored to have been awarded it this year.”
Ritchie teaches three different history classes at Llano Junior High: sixth-grade World Cultures, seventh-grade Texas History, and eighth-grade U.S. History. The award was for her Texas History class, which recently received a grant from the Llano County Commissioners Court to restore a Texas Centennial Marker that had been lost but was found without its original bronze plaques.
History is both Ritchie’s job and her hobby. She and husband Michael, who is a member of the Cottonwood Shores City Council, spend their free time restoring headstones in old cemeteries and working with local historians on research projects.
“I never get tired of history because there’s so much of it,” Ritchie said. “I feel more people should know about it.”
The Northern Illinois University graduate taught history for two years in the Hutto Independent School District before moving to LISD three years ago.
“Teaching has always been my goal,” she said. “I knew since I was a little kid that I wanted to be a history teacher. I’m living my dream right now.”