SAN ANTONIO – KSAT12 has launched a new series called “KSAT Educator of the Month” and the first winner is Amanda Pyle, Taft High School’s fine arts coordinator and theater director.
Pyle led her theater students to a state championship in the One Act Play in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I love teaching,” Pyle said. “I’m so passionate about it. I always tell them that this is my dream job and that I wouldn’t want to do anything else.”
However, Pyle said initially she had different plans for her career path.
“I went to college in California,” Pyle said. “I went to USC and I wanted to be an actress and do all of that. And I did that in Los Angeles for a little bit and I was like, ‘I’m done.’”
Pyle said at the time, she didn’t “love” what she was doing, so she made the move to San Antonio to pursue something she did love.
Enter here: KSAT 12′s Educator of the Month Contest
Now, Pyle is in her 14th year of teaching and her ninth year at Taft High School.
“Last year was really hard, but we had a really cool ending to the year,” Pyle said. “We won the state championship in the One Act Play and that was amazing, but to know the lasting impact that I can have as an educator, that means the most to me.”
Pyle’s students were excited and proud that she was recognized as KSAT’s Educator of the Month.
“It means a lot because I know she works like crazy, hard,” Briana Chavez, a theater student said. “I constantly know what my strengths and weaknesses are and I feel like she does a really good job at teaching us how to grow like wherever we are in our theater journey.”