89R26984 AMB-D
By: Lujan H.R. No. 1026
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Kacy Debney, an Advanced Placement environmental
science and chemistry teacher at Samuel Clemens High School in
Schertz, has been named the 2025 Environmental Educator of the Year
by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality; and
WHEREAS, Each year, the TCEQ honors achievements in
environmental preservation and protection through its Texas
Environmental Excellence Awards program, and the Environmental
Educator of the Year award recognizes a distinguished educator who
has highlighted environmental education; and
WHEREAS, For the past 16 years, Ms. Debney has dedicated her
career to shaping the next generation of environmental stewards; as
the AP environmental science teacher at Clemens High, she teaches
all aspects of the curriculum, from biodiversity and population
dynamics to the effects of energy and water use, and she has worked
tirelessly to provide her students with hands-on, real-world
experiences through a variety of projects such as designing
sustainable homes, cleaning local parks, and drafting mock
legislation addressing environmental challenges; and
WHEREAS, In addition to her work in the classroom, Ms. Debney
oversees a number of other initiatives and projects that showcase
her willingness to go above and beyond; she takes her students on a
field trip each spring to gather water and soil samples as part of
an ongoing, yearslong study of a local park, allowing them the
opportunity to use professional-quality equipment to collect and
analyze data; she also supervised the research of four students
tasked with formulating a plan to help school districts become more
sustainable, and under her able guidance, the group won the 2024
Siemens Texas STEM Pathways Challenge; moreover, she was awarded a
Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City Independent School District
education grant last fall for her initiative, Training Future
Loraxes, which involves Clemens High students working
collaboratively alongside students from Rose Garden Elementary
School to conduct an environmental survey; and
WHEREAS, By encouraging her students and other members of the
community to preserve and protect their environment, Kacy Debney is
helping to ensure the continued health and vitality of the Lone Star
State's natural resources, and she is indeed deserving of this
prestigious accolade; now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 89th Texas
Legislature hereby congratulate Kacy Debney on her selection as the
2025 Environmental Educator of the Year by the Texas Commission on
Environmental Quality and extend to her sincere best wishes for
continued success with her important work; and, be it further
RESOLVED, That an official copy of this resolution be
prepared for Ms. Debney as an expression of high regard by the Texas
House of Representatives.