Louisiana
Rayne High School teacher named Louisiana Teacher of the Year
NEW ORLEANS, La. — The Louisiana Department of Education (LDOE) celebrated the state’s top teachers and leaders at the 18th Annual Cecil J. Picard Educator Excellence Awards Gala in New Orleans on Saturday.
LDOE, in partnership with Dream Teachers, highlighted the event with the announcement of Louisiana Teacher and Principal of the Year, Louisiana Early Childhood Teacher and Leader of the Year, and Louisiana New Teacher of the Year.
2025 Overall State Honorees:
- Louisiana Teacher of the Year: Elise Boutin | Acadia Parish
- Louisiana Principal of the Year: Dr. Amanda Austin | Iberville Parish
- Louisiana Early Childhood Teacher of the Year: Nicole Williams Ross | Jefferson Parish
- Louisiana Early Childhood Leader of the Year: Rockeisha Walker | Iberville Parish
- Louisiana New Teacher of the Year: Tiffany Pfeifer | Calcasieu Parish
“It’s a privilege to celebrate some of the outstanding professionals who have dedicated their careers to improving our state one child at a time,” said State Superintendent of Education Cade Brumley. “Each of these talented educators have played a role in Louisiana’s recent successes, and are critical to the vital work that lies ahead.”
Louisiana Teacher of the Year:
Elise Boutin is the overall Louisiana Teacher of the Year.
According to LDOE, Boutin, a 14-year veteran of the classroom, is a publications and English teacher at Rayne High School in Acadia Parish. She revived the Rayne, Alive! Program, a student-produced YouTube channel that has connected students with local broadcasting opportunities. Boutin created a senior project fair for students to showcase their capstone projects in areas of academics, career and community service, and to connect them with business owners. She also connects students to community activities by sponsoring the Interact Club, which works with the Rayne Rotary Club, and she recently started a cross-country team at the school.
The following educators were named division-level Louisiana Teacher of the Year:
- Elementary: J. Joy Stalnaker | Lafayette Parish Schools
- Middle: Christopher Kourvelas | Bossier Parish Schools
- High: Dr. Suresh Babu Chiruguru | Calcasieu Parish Schools
Louisiana Principal of the Year
Dr. Amanda Austin is the overall Louisiana Principal of the Year.
Dr. Austin holds a Doctor of Education degree in Educational Leadership from Lamar University and is the principal of Iberville Math, Science, and Arts (MSA) Academy East in St. Gabriel. She was selected as principal to reopen North Iberville High School (NIHS) after it had been closed for more than a decade, creating a thriving school with a STEM magnet program, as maintained by LDOE.
The following educators were named division-level Louisiana Principal of the Year:
- Elementary: Amanda LaFollette | DeSoto Parish Schools
- Middle: Dr. Decina Rodriguez | Lafourche Parish Schools
- High: Brandon LaGroue | Central Community School District
Louisiana Early Childhood Teachers of the Year
Nicole Williams Ross is the overall Louisiana Early Childhood Teacher of the Year.
Williams teaches at Carousel Preschool in Jefferson Parish and has more than 10 years of experience working and serving children and families in Louisiana, said Ted Beasley, LDOE Deputy Chief of Communication.
Louisiana Early Childhood Leader of the Year
Rockeisha Walker is the overall Louisiana Early Childhood Leader of the Year.
According to Beasley, Walker leads Bright Star Child Care Center in Iberville Parish and has over 10 years of experience leading Early Learning centers in Louisiana.
Louisiana New Teacher of the Year
Tiffany Pfeifer is the overall Louisiana New Teacher of the Year.
Pfeifer teaches at Washington Marion High School in Calcasieu Parish and is committed to fostering a true love of learning in her students, said Beasley.
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Miss Louisiana preliminaries closed Friday with Miss Louisiana Port City sweeping health and fitness and evening wear, and a newcomer earning another night of preliminary wins.
Shelby Bordelon, Miss Louisiana Port City, won health and fitness and evening wear preliminaries. Miss Natchitoches City of Lights Eva Delatte won the talent preliminary.
Miss Heart of Pilot Lauryn Vernon won both the newcomer health and fitness and the newcomer evening wear awards, earning $500 in scholarships. Kelly Lohman, Miss Avoyelles Arts & Music Festival, received the $500 newcomer preliminary talent scholarship.
Other scholarships that were presented Friday night included:
- Women in Business ($1,000 Scholarship): Miss Louisiana Tech University De’Ahmya Whaley
- Women in Education ($1,000 Scholarship): Miss Southeastern Louisiana University Miranda Sensat
- Women in Health Sciences ($1,000 Scholarship): Miss Ruston Emma Calhoun
- Women in Marketing ($1,000): Miss Louisiana Tech University De’Ahmya Whaley
- Women in Mass Communication ($1,000 Scholarship): Miss Louisiana Port City Shelby Bordelon
- STEAM ($500): Miss Ruston Emma Calhoun, Miss Cane River Olivia Grace Dyrek, Miss Monroe Jalia Shepherd
- Champions of Faith ($1,000): Miss Louisiana Christian University Destanee Stewart
- Glenda Moss Memorial Passion for Dance Scholarship ($1,000): Miss Krewe of the Twin Cities Anna Claire Lemoine
- Origin Bank Leadership & Culture ($1,000): Miss Avoyelles Arts & Music Festival Kelly Lohman
- American Heart Association − Raised over $1,000: Miss CENLA Lauragrace Rader, Miss Louisiana Port City Shelby Bordelon, Miss Louisiana Tech University De’Ahmya Whaley
- AHA Winner − Raised over $5,000: Miss Union Parish Hannah Brotherton
- Sharon Turrentine Health Living ($1,000): Miss University of Louisiana Monroe Katherine McCullars
- Community Service 1st Runner Up: Miss Avoyelles Arts & Music Festival Kelly Lohman
Who are the Miss Louisiana contestants?
The Jazz Group consists of:
- Miss Slidell Maddie McMahan
- Miss Spirit of Fasching Caroline Pierce
- Miss Minden Sadie Brown
- Miss Belle of the Bayou Jansen McDonald
- Miss Spirit of the Red Elyce Thomas
- Miss Ouachita Parish Jasmine Henson
- Miss Bossier City Adreaunna Scott
- Miss Heart of Pilot Lauryn Vernon
- Miss Red River City Courtney Patterson
- Miss Lincoln Parish Sarah Cook
- Miss Twin Cities Addison Jackson
- Miss Southeastern Louisiana University Miranda Sensat
- Miss Union Parish Hannah Brotherton
- Miss University of Louisiana at Monroe Katherine McCullars
- Miss Louisiana Port City Shelby Bordelon
The Blues Group consists of:
- Miss Avoyelles Arts & Music Festival Kelly Lohman
- Miss Northwestern Lady of the Bracelet Nilah Pollard
- Miss Pride of Monroe Shelby Weaver
- Miss Krewe of the Twin Cities Anna Claire Lemoine
- Miss Louisiana Christian University Destanee Stewart
- Miss Louisiana Bayou Makenzie Tillery
- Miss Ruston Emma Calhoun
- Miss Natchitoches Parish Hannah Reeder
- Miss Louisiana Stockshow Jacie Brent
- Miss Cane River Olivia Grace Dyrek
- Miss Natchitoches City of Lights Eva Delatte
- Miss Monroe Jalia Shepherd
- Miss CENLA Lauragrace Rader
- Miss Louisiana Tech University De’Ahmya Wiley
Follow Ian Robinson on Twitter @_irobinsonand on Facebook at https://bit.ly/3vln0w1.
That pageant feeds into the Miss Louisiana pageant, which is part of the Miss America system. The winner of Miss Louisiana Saturday night will move on to the Miss America pageant.
Addison’s pageant platform is encouraging girls to build confidence in themselves — Confidence to Career, Jackson said.
“She competed last night for the preliminary in talent and on stage question and will compete tonight in beauty and fitness,” Jackson said.
On Saturday at the beginning of the pageant, the field will be cut to 11 contestants, and then the top five.
“One of the top five will get a crown,” Jackson said.
The preliminary competitions and the pageant will be streamed on MissLouisiana.com and the Saturday pageant will be broadcast live on KNOE-TV.
“They let me see her for five minutes yesterday,” she said. “This is the experience of a lifetime. She is making friendships and relationships that will last a lifetime. We are so proud of her. Addison is such a sweet girl.”
She is the youngest of three sisters, Allison and Anna Claire Jackson.
Angela said her husband, Craig Jackson, is particularly excited and proud of all three of his daughters.
“He’s a great girl dad,” she said. “They think he hung the moon, and he did.”
Louisiana
After redistricting battles, Southern gathers for Juneteenth celebration: ‘Continue the fight’
Hundreds of community members, alumni and students gathered Thursday to observe Juneteenth on the Southern University campus in Baton Rouge.
The theme of the festivities was “celebrating freedom through culture and community,” but weeks after Louisiana’s bitter redistricting battles, the speakers Thursday morning had one message driving their remarks: Get out and vote.
“Freedom does not come in on the wheels of inevitability,” Louisiana Supreme Court Associate Justice John Michael Guidry said to the crowd. “But it takes the prodigious work and the tireless efforts of those who are willing to continue the fight.”
Great Beginnings summer camper Myni, 4, gets a hello kitty face painting during Southern’s Juneteenth celebration on Thursday, June 18, 2026 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Staff photo by Michael Johnson
The speech kicked off a day of discussions and cultural events centered on the holiday of Juneteenth, which commemorates June 19, 1865, when Union Gen. Gordon Granger brought news of emancipation to enslaved people in Texas more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation was issued.
Speakers at Southern emphasized the need for protection of hard-won rights for Black Americans in the context of redistricting. The sentiments followed a contentious state legislative session that ended with the elimination of one of Louisiana’s two majority-Black congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in Louisiana v. Callais.
“That Voting Rights Act is under attack,” Guidry said. “There’s voter intimidation, there’s voter suppression, there are voter ID laws and all types of laws and legal decisions that are trying to deny us our right to vote, and we are the ones who have to go forward and litigate these issues.”
The day opened with a libation ceremony and a rendition of “Lift Every Voice and Sing” by Southern University student Claire Floyd.
Southern University alumnus Jeanet Cazenave said she felt it was important to celebrate Juneteenth on campus as not only a relative of the first dean of Southern University but also a descendant of the GU272, a group of enslaved individuals who were sold to plantations in Louisiana in 1838 by Jesuit priests to pay the debts of what is now Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
Juneteenth “means everything,” Cazenave said. “It means the past, the present and the future.”
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