Cinco Ranch Junior High School teacher named Math Teacher of the Month

Contributed Report
Posted 9/15/22

Stacey Vanhorn, a math teacher at Cinco Ranch Junior High School, was celebrated at a Houston Astros game for being the “Math Teacher of the Month” by ConocoPhillips.

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Cinco Ranch Junior High School teacher named Math Teacher of the Month

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Stacey Vanhorn, a math teacher at Cinco Ranch Junior High School, was celebrated at a Houston Astros game for being the “Math Teacher of the Month” by ConocoPhillips.

Vanhorn is a seventh-grade math teacher at Cinco Ranch Junior High School. She graduated from the University of Houston with a bachelor’s degree in Merchandising-Industrial Distribution and a minor in Marketing Education. During her time in college, Vanhorn swam for UH and was involved with the Student Council.

Stacey has been a teacher for twelve years, and all those years have been dedicated to teaching math. As the seventh-grade math team lead, Stacey was integral in working to improve lesson design and local/state test scores at her school. She spearheaded changes that led to steady improvement of the seventh-grade math scores that ultimately outpaced the district average. Stacey’s dynamic personality and teaching style engage her students in lively discussions about math. Her former students frequently recall the math skills she enthusiastically taught in class.  Outside of positively impacting her students, Vanhorn has been instrumental in helping train several pre-service teachers, making sure they are prepared to be dynamic full-time math teachers when their student teaching semester ends.

She has worn many hats throughout her teaching career, including being department chair, seventh-grade KAP and Academic teacher, Katy ISD seventh-grade course lead, a mentor teacher, Student Council sponsor as well as a student-led Bible study sponsor. She has a passion for encouraging students to become problem solvers and gives them the tools to advocate for themselves to help them live up to their potential.

This last year has brought on the challenge of a breast cancer diagnosis for Stacey. While teaching, she went through 12 rounds of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. During her treatment, she continued to go to work and carried on with her can-do attitude, only missing days of work to go to treatment. Vanhorn gives 100% to her students and takes great pride in her work.

Cinco Ranch Junior High, ConocoPhillips