Clark High School teacher receives national honor

William Lee, a Latin teacher at Clark High School, is the 2023 American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Language’s National Language Teacher of the Year.

Northside ISD announced Lee’s national honor in November. According to a news release, Lee in 2021 was named the Texas Foreign Language Association’s Teacher of the Year and moved on to the regional competition, where he was named 2022 Teacher of the Year by Southwest Conference on Language Teaching and qualified as one of the five finalists for the ACTFL National Language Teacher of the Year program.

Throughout this process, Lee has had to submit evidence and testimonials for his portfolio, deliver a three- to five-minute memorized policy speech, and endure multiple rounds of interviews, the release said.

Lee is the state co-chair of the Texas State Junior Classical League and the vice president of the Texas Classical Association and has served on various committees for the National Junior Classical League.

Lee has also been a member of the American Classical League, the Texas Classical Association and the board of regents for North American Cambridge Classics Project, the release said. He is serving as a College Board consultant for Advanced Placement Latin and also as one of the four high school representatives on College Board’s AP Latin Development Committee.

In his 23 years of teaching with 20 years at Northside ISD, he has accumulated several accolades. In 2006, his colleagues at Clark selected him as Teacher of the Year. Since 2016, Clark students have nominated him as the most influential teacher at the annual summa cum laude teacher recognition ceremony. He also has received the Yale University Teaching Award and the University of Chicago Outstanding Educator Award, the release said.