UT Elementary held our 2024 ‘From Pre-K to Ph.D.’ Event on Thursday, April 18 at the Etter-Harbin Alumni Center.
The evening kicked off with an amazing performance by the Little Longhorn Conjunto Band led by Joel Guzman and his music assistant Sarah Fox. For the performance, Joel recruited two of his students from the Butler School Conjunto Band: Joshua Garcia on Guitarron and Michael Diaz on Acoustic Guitar to accompany the Little Longhorns during their set.
Dr. Ramona Trevino, founding principal and Dr. William F. Lasher, founding board member gathered the guests to give the “Founders Toast.” 
Cocktail hour ended with a rousing performance by the Longhorn Alumni Band!
The event was emceed by Dr. Bob Duke.
We were so excited that UT President Jay Hartzell joined us to give the evenings welcome address.
UT Charter School System CEO Dr. Melissa Chavez thanked everyone for being there and honored UT Elementary teachers: both current and former, who joined us for the evening.
UT Elementary’s Musical Lives Program performed with the help of some amazing accompanists. Special thanks goes out to –
UT Elementary Alumni who returned to play with current students: Sophia Banda, Gabriel Guajardo, Isaac Guajardo, Mateo Jones, Mia Jones and Nahbi Vega.
Accompanists: Peter Kim, Austin Youth Orchestra Concertmaster and Dr. Margie Yankeelov, Lecturer, College of Fine Arts
Butler School Music Education Student Accompanists: Maddy Coronado, Undergraduate; Alyse French, Graduate and Justin Lader, Doctoral.
College of Education Dean Charles Martinez shared the impact that UT Elementary has in a variety of ways across the university. He spoke about the research that is done at UT Elementary as well as the training of students in areas including: education, speech and language, social work and music among many more.
The highlight of the evening came when Bill Lasher, who was awarded the Dan Burck Visionary Award in 2023, presented this years awards to Kathy Armenta, Courtney Byrd, Laurie Scott and Sharon Vaughn for their work collaborating with UT Elementary.
The evening ended with a little help from Eddie Lopez, the Executive Director of the Texas Cowboys Alumni Association – UT Elementary’s new partner and supporter.
Thank you to everyone who attended and to our event sponsors!
To see all photos from the event, please see this link to the UT Box.
