On March 19, Jill Reynolds, public affairs manager at H-E-B, presented Rachael Brunson, fourth grade teacher at Great Oaks Elementary School, with a check worth $1,000 for being a finalist in H-E-B's excellence in education awards program, which acknowledges public school teachers who inspire students to love learning. Great Oaks Elementary School also received a $1,000 check.

Reynolds said Brunson is invited to attend the statewide competition in Houston in May, at which she would compete against four other teachers in the leadership, which is for those who have been teaching for 10–20 years. If Brunson wins, she would receive $10,000 and the school would also get $10,000.

"I hope this allows me to spend more time with colleagues across the state," Brunson said. "I would like to see service learning take off across the state."

Service learning is a teaching strategy in which students apply what they are learning in the classroom to identify, research and address community needs.

Outside of the classroom, Brunson said she is "trying to motivate my peers and colleagues in education to increase public awareness about what's really going on, to create a more positive perception for public schools and we do a lot of great things," she said.

Brunson previously taught second grade and switched to fourth grade three years ago. Great Oaks Elementary School Principal Jana Stowe said the parents of many of Brunson's students who Brunson had taught in second grade requested that their child would have her again for fourth grade.

"I was not surprised at all," Stowe said of the announcement. "Rachael [Brunson] is the most dedicated, outstanding teacher I think I've ever worked with. She probably puts in 70 hours a week, easy, and she does that all on her own."

In 2010, Brunson was named Elementary Teacher of the Year for Texas Education Service Center Region 13.