On Thursday evening at Woodroe Petty Elementary, Taft ISD held their end of the year Employee Appreciation Banquet. The theme of the ceremony was "Mission Accomplished" and the event took time to 
honor service awards, Employees of the Year and Teacher of the Year. The night was filled with fun activities as every participant went home with a door prize from the district's generous sponsors.
Service Awards were given out for 5, 10, 25 and 30 years of service with the district. Employees of the Year were the following:
Auxiliary Employee of the Year: Enedelia Olivarez, Bus Driver
Clerical/Para Employee of the Year: Anthony Hernandez, Petty ES
Non-Teaching Professional of the Year: Claire Moreno, Trevino JH
The nominees for Teacher of the Year were Naomi Moreno, Petty ES; Samuel Loyd, Trevino JH; and William Worthington, Taft HS. Samuel Loyd was named as the Taft ISD 2026 Teacher of the Year. Mr. Loyd and Mrs. Moreno will represent Taft ISD as Secondary & Elementary Teachers of the Year in the Region 2 Teacher of the Year contest taking place in June.
Special thanks goes out to Backstreet Cafe who provided dinner for the evening, Social Light Photobooth for free group pics for those in attendance, our generous sponsors (Gignac Architects, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, Linebarger & Associates, Tri-L Creations--just to name a few), all of our district employees who took their time to prepare the venue (especially Pattie Martinez) and our School Board members who were able to join in the fun (Manuel Banda, Diana Buendia, Johnny Carvajal, Matthew Banda and Nicole Garza). Thank you to everyone who came out to join us this evening! #MissionAccomplished #TPND