Thank you for showing your support at our 15th Annual Hall of Fame Event!
Nelson C. Andrews
Distinguished Service Award
Judge Richard Dinkins
Judge Richard Dinkins’ esteemed career of service to the Nashville community began during his third year of law school at Vanderbilt University, when he clerked for the Honorable Avon N. Williams Jr. and became involved in Nashville’s long-running desegregation case. Dinkins went on to successfully represent the plaintiffs in the case. Dinkins now serves as a judge for the Tennessee Court of Appeals, while still remaining a tireless advocate for civil rights in public education. His dedication to making Nashville and our schools more equitable places for all children is an incredible example of what the Nelson C. Andrews award represents and what we hope we can inspire in future leaders of our city.
Distinguished Alumni Award Honorees
Kasar Abdulla
Antioch High School
Dr. Adrienne Battle
Overton High SchoolDr. Adrienne Battle is a devoted public servant whose career is marked by her commitment to serving Nashville’s public schools. She is the first female director of Metro Nashville Public Schools, and the first director to graduate from the district. Her 20-year career in education spans all the way back to her elementary school days in Nashville. She has held multiple executive principal positions through the elementary and high school levels, and was named the 2015 Academies of Nashville Executive Principal of the Year.
Jimmy Granbery
Hillwood High SchoolJimmy Granbery is a prominent leader in the Nashville business community, serving as chairman and CEO of the H.G. Hill Realty Company and chairman of the H.G. Hill Company. He serves as a commissioner of the Metropolitan Nashville Airport Authority, was recently appointed to the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission, and serves as vice chairman of the Martin Methodist College board and the Nashville Zoo board. He is also a longtime supporter of the YMCA of Middle Tennessee, which recently awarded him the organization’s highest honor, the Order of the Red Triangle.
Sponsored by
UniCycle
Founded by Jami Oakley in 2015, UniCycle provides clean, appropriate uniforms for Metro Nashville Public Schools (MNPS) students in need. Through the Homeless Education Resource Office (HERO), UniCycle collects “outgrown, not worn out” school uniforms that are then re-distributed to students at UniCycle Closets found in 50 public schools across Nashville. Nearly 13,000 pieces of clothing were distributed to MNPS students during the 2018–2019 school year alone. But this program is about so much more than clothes; it is about helping students and families focus on what matters most – their studies – rather than worrying about how they will buy expensive school uniforms each year.
Restorative Student Leaders
Restorative Student Leaders is an entirely student-led initiative that is creating a powerful culture shift in MNPS. Under the guidance of teachers Laura Fittz and Ellen Montgomery, student leaders at Glencliff and Hillsboro high schools are co-designing and implementing “restorative practices” in their schools. These practices represent an important paradigm shift, moving schools away from punitive cultures and toward school cultures where students and teachers seek to repair and restore damaged relationships. The Restorative Student Leaders, who call themselves the Glencliff Peace Team and Hillsboro CORE, are not only studying social problems affecting their lives, they are also designing solutions and leading valuable trainings that are actually solving these problems, forming stronger, safer school communities in the process.
Sponsored by
Mary Jane Manley
Mary Jane Manley began working in Metro Nashville Public Schools as a paraprofessional at Harris-Hillman School serving students with significant physical and intellectual disabilities. Moved by her work in the school, Mary Jane became a licensed exceptional education teacher through a master’s degree program at Belmont University. In the classroom, Mary Jane creatively finds ways to provide students with meaningful opportunities to demonstrate their abilities. She has a passion for discovering how her students can access rigorous and appropriate instructional material and meeting the individual needs of each of her students. Her work in the classroom goes beyond benefiting her students as she seeks ways to scale successful practices schoolwide. After implementing a creative tactile-symbol-based communication system in her classroom, she successfully expanded it across the school in collaboration with her colleagues. Her goal is to create the highest expectations for her students with appropriate opportunities for meaningful engagement at their fullest potential. Gerry Altieri, Harris-Hillman’s principal, shares that Mary Jane is “a dedicated exceptional education teacher that strives to improve instruction for one of the hardest populations in exceptional education to serve.”
Crystal Hicks
Crystal Hicks is a first-grade teacher at Robert Churchwell Museum Magnet Elementary School who has more than 25 years of experience in the classroom. Crystal inspires her students to see themselves as leaders in and out of the classroom and works to create experiences, teach life lessons, and build real-life connections to learning that her students will take beyond elementary school. Crystal is also dedicated to providing the highest level of instruction in her own classroom and her school as a whole, leading regular professional development opportunities and providing mentorship for her fellow teachers. Her belief that all students have a right to a high-quality education is the driving force behind the way she contributes to her school community. Her principal, Marcia Taylor, says that Crystal “makes students, teachers, staff, and the community feel valued, supported and willing to invest in themselves as well as their community.”
Presenting
Award Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Andrews Family
Bone McAllester Norton PLLC
Curb Records
Enterprise Solutions
HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health
J Graham Inc
Nashville Electric Service
Nashville State Community College Foundation
Orcutt Winslow LLP
Piedmont Gas
Regions Bank
Rogers Group
Southwest Value Partners
Steve Turner
Studio Bank/Harry Allen
TBR - The College System of Tennessee
Trauger & Tuke
Media Sponsors
We have been honored to see this event grow with each passing year and to celebrate some of the brightest and most impactful leaders and innovators in Nashville. Check out some of the highlights from years past. We hope you will join us in making 2019’s Hall of Fame the most memorable yet.
