Skip To Main Content

Logo Title

Educator Spotlight: Dombrowski & Porter

Educator Spotlight: Dombrowski & Porter

Congratulations to our March Educator Spotlight honorees: art teacher Annie Dombrowski of Hayes and Horace Mann and assistant custodian/utility Taylor Porter of Lakewood High! They have been singled out by their peers as  outstanding employees and colleagues. Click on Read More below to find out more about these two staff members.

ANNIE DOMBROWSKI

Dombrowski

Hayes and Horace Mann elementary art teacher Annie Dombrowski finds herself in a full circle moment in her life as she navigates her way through her first year teaching art. Back in her college days, she studied fine art but eventually changed course to major in education. After years of raising her family and working in a variety of positions with the District since 2018, Annie is now thriving in the art world after only a half a year on the job. 

Annie uses our Vision of a Lakewood Educator competencies such as collaboration, communication and growth mindset to cope with the everyday challenges that come her way.to build, as she says, “a place for students to release and be creative every week.”

Being new to the job, Annie sought out her fellow art teacher Jen Murray at the beginning of the year to help her know what to expect. She also used her collaboration skills to work with the CHAMPS team to create developmentally appropriate instruction and provide modified tools for the unit’s special needs students to allow them to attend art weekly whereas in the past they did not have specials on a regular basis.

As a new art teacher, Annie says she is continually in growth mindset mode: “Every day I am reflecting on how it went and then think about how it can be better.” 

Annie’s nominator, Horace Mann Principal Sanya Henley, agrees that Annie possesses a strong growth mindset: “Annie continues to reflect on her teaching strategies and fine tune them. She reflects on her students' needs and always has a positive mindset. She is open-minded to ideas and not afraid to try new things.”

 

TAYLOR PORTER

Porter

Taylor Porter has only been on the first shift custodial crew for about a month, but her excellent communication and collaboration skills have made it a seamless transition for her.

“Taylor is an asset to LHS and now that she is on first shift, we will be even better off than before.  We are thankful to have her on our team,” says Taylor’s nominator, Lakewood High Principal Joy Morgan. 

Taylor is an LHS grad and started working as a sub for the District in 2017. As a team leader on the second shift she, relied on communicating with the rest of the custodial and maintenance staff to make sure all responsibilities of the shift were covered. “Taylor was a key component to that team getting their work done and collaborating with her colleagues,” Principal Morgan says.  

Taylor’s growth mindset includes being flexible and adaptable on the job as she says from day to day, the task list may change within minutes. 

Taylor has liked the switch to first shift as she enjoys interacting with the students and smiles at them with hopes of spreading some of her positivity to others. Her upbeat and can-do attitude is something Principal Morgan praises: “Taylor is always friendly, personable, and willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done.  She goes above and beyond and LHS is fortunate to have her on our staff.”