For 25 years, YES Prep Public Schools educators have challenged, supported and inspired students to pursue their goals. This year, the district is marking a new milestone by participating in the Region IV Teacher of the Year program for the first time. 

Ana Bermudez and Leigh Anne Rayburn were selected as YES Prep’s Region IV Teachers of the Year, recognizing their commitment to students, academic excellence and lasting impact. 

While their journeys to the classroom are uniquely their own, both have built careers around a shared belief that what happens between a teacher and a student can have an impact well beyond a single school year. 

Ana Bermudez Became the Teacher Who Once Supported Her 

As Ana Bermudez begins her 16th year in education, she can trace her decision to become a teacher back to the educators who believed in her long before she had a classroom of her own. 

Growing up in Mexico, Ana remembers a first-grade teacher whose dedication helped her reach important academic goals. After immigrating to the United States at 18 and learning English, she again found encouragement from teachers as she adjusted to a new country, pursued higher education and began imagining the educator she could become. 

Those experiences showed Ana what it means for a student to have an educator who sees their potential. Today, she brings that same sense of possibility into her own classroom. 

Watching Students Become Readers and Writers 

Much of Ana’s career has been spent teaching kindergarten, where students often entered still learning letters, sounds and how to write their names. By the end of the year, she watched many of those same children read and write complete sentences. 

Seeing that transformation year after year solidified her passion for elementary education. 

Now teaching second grade, Ana helps students tackle more rigorous expectations, from developing stronger vocabulary to organizing their ideas into structured writing. The transition became especially meaningful when some of her former kindergarten students entered her second-grade classroom, giving her the opportunity to see their growth and teach them again. 

Ana credits much of that success to the relationships she builds with students and families. She regularly connects with parents beyond scheduled conferences and works to create a classroom where students feel safe asking questions, seeking help and taking on challenges. 

At the center of that environment is a message she repeats often, “You can accomplish your dreams, but you have to work for them.” 

It is a lesson rooted in her own life. 

The People Who Helped Her Grow 

Being named one of YES Prep’s first Teachers of the Year was not something Ana expected. The significance of the moment grew when she saw her husband and children there to celebrate with her. 

For Ana, the honor brought together her journey of immigrating to a new country, learning English, pursuing her education, raising a family and building a career devoted to helping children succeed. It was also an opportunity to show her children what perseverance and hard work can make possible. 

Ana also credits Ms. Gutierrez, Ms. Barrera and Mr. Vannest with continuing to shape her as an educator. 

“Thank you for reminding me that growth doesn’t only happen in the classroom,” Ana shared. “Sometimes, it happens in the quiet moments when we pause, reflect and simply rest. You helped me reflect on my teaching, celebrate the little victories and find the strength to face another day with patience and purpose.” 

Her story has come full circle. Ana entered the profession because educators believed in her potential, and she now strives to offer that same belief to her students. 

When asked what she hopes they remember long after leaving her classroom, her answer reflects that journey, “Never give up on your dreams,” she said. 

After 15 years of teaching, Ana still sees her future in the classroom, alongside students and families. 

Leigh Anne Rayburn Builds Learning That Students Remember 

For Leigh Anne Rayburn, the lasting impact of teaching can sometimes be measured in unexpected ways, a song heard on the radio decades later, a former student who becomes a colleague or a senior who discovers that they really can finish—and enjoy—a book. 

For 26 years, Leigh Anne has taught English at YES Prep Southeast. Today, she teaches 12th-grade Advanced Placement English Language and Composition, but an experience early in her career helped define the way she approaches learning. 

While developing a poetry unit for her seventh graders, Leigh Anne decided to introduce poetry through music. The response from students was so powerful that she continued using music throughout her eight years teaching seventh grade and eventually carried that philosophy into her high school classroom. 

Years later, some students from that first class now work alongside her at YES Prep. Others still reach out when they hear a song they remember studying in her classroom. 

The experience reinforced something that continues to guide her teaching, when learning feels authentic and meaningful, students invest in it. She still incorporates music into her Advanced Placement classroom, giving students opportunities to analyze lyrics, research artists and build arguments around music they choose. 

That element of choice is central to her approach. 

Putting Students in the Driver’s Seat 

In 2010, after watching students proudly present projects at a science fair, Leigh Anne wondered what a similar experience could look like for her senior English students. The idea became the Author Study Project and Author Faire, now a signature senior experience and graduation requirement at YES Prep Southeast. 

Students select an author based on their interests, reading history and abilities, then spend the spring reading and studying that writer’s work. At Author Faire, families and staff join students as they present what they have learned and demonstrate their expertise. 

Students receive personalized recommendations and opportunities to shape projects around their interests. Some have even connected directly with the authors they studied. 

But for Leigh Anne, some of the most meaningful successes are quieter. Each year, students admit they have never independently finished a book. Through Author Study, many find the books that finally connect with them. 

Creating an Impact Beyond the Classroom 

Leigh Anne’s influence at Southeast also extends beyond English instruction. 

For 17 years, she has coordinated campus blood drives in memory of her mother, who was also a teacher and needed blood transfusions during the final days of her life. The experience inspired Leigh Anne to find a way to give that generosity back to her community. 

Since the first drive in 2009, 1,865 donors have participated at Southeast. During the 2025–26 school year alone, YES Prep students and staff donated 159 units of blood, with the potential to help save hundreds of lives. 

What began as a personal way to honor her mother has become a tradition introducing generations of students to community service, with some continuing to donate after graduation. 

Renewed by an Unexpected Honor 

Leigh Anne received YES Prep’s first Kinder Excellence in Teaching Award in 2009 and was named an Outstanding Teacher of the Humanities by Humanities Texas in 2018. Still, receiving this honor came as a complete surprise. 

“When my principal announced that I was the YES Prep Region IV Teacher of the Year, I was completely gobsmacked,” she shared. “I didn’t know such an award existed, or that we participated in it.” 

Once the surprise passed, the recognition became a challenge to continue growing. 

“I felt challenged to live up to this honor and renew my commitment to my craft this year,” she said. “I feel rededicated with a new charge in the final years of my career.” 

After 26 years at the same campus, that renewed commitment reflects a career in which the impact of teaching continues to surface long after a lesson ends, in students who discover the right book, former students who become colleagues and traditions that bring a school community together year after year. 

Celebrating a New YES Prep Tradition 

Ana and Leigh Anne arrive at this recognition with different experiences, but both demonstrate the lasting influence an educator can have. 

Ana gives students the encouragement that teachers once gave her as she navigated a new country, language and education. Leigh Anne’s influence can be seen across generations of Southeast students in lessons they remember, books they discovered, traditions they helped build and acts of service they carry beyond graduation. 

Ana and Leigh Anne are the first educators to represent the district through the Region 4 Teacher of the Year program. Their recognition expands how YES Prep celebrates outstanding educators and creates a new opportunity to honor the experience, dedication and lasting impact of exceptional teachers across the district. 

Congratulations Ana and Leigh Anne!