Sommer Elementary School Gifted and Talented specialist Revathi Balakrishnan was named the 2016 Round Rock ISD Elementary Teacher of the Year at the district’s annual banquet Monday evening sponsored by the Round Rock ISD Partners in Education Foundation and A+ Federal Credit Union.
Balakrishnan has been an educator for nine years, six of which have been at Sommer as a founding staff member. Teaching is Balakrishnan’s second career and she’s doing what she loves, she said.
“I don’t think I’m going to have a third career, this is the final one,” Balakrishnan said. “I have kids and a great set of teachers to work with. I opened Sommer, so this is my school.”
Balakrishnan was selected out of 33 elementary school teachers to represent Round Rock ISD in the regional Teacher of the Year competition. As the accomplishment was announced, she was surprised to be chosen out of the group of accomplished educators, she said.
“I was just shaking, it’s just too much,” Balakrishnan said. “I didn’t expect this kind of accomplishment. It’s just amazing.”
Balakrishnan has a passion for after school clubs that grow minds and challenge students to think, Sommer Principal Nancy Varljen said. She heads the chess, coding and robotics programs and most recently led the Region 6 Chess Tournament, which brought 650 competitors to the event hosted at Sommer. She also serves on multiple district-level committees.
“Revathi always goes above and beyond to help students and fellow teachers,” Varljen said. “She is always professional and creative and challenges us all to think creatively and continue to grow as educators.”
