Spring Branch School of Choice social studies teacher Joyce Roberta Miller-Alper was one of only 50 teachers selected recently to receive the competitive grant, A View from Mount Vernon: Shaping the Constitution 1783-1789. The summer seminar, which includes a one-week program at Mount Vernon, is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities, an independent grant-making agency of the U.S. government.
The Mount Vernon week for educators will include lectures by prominent scholars, behind-the-scene tours of Washington’s home, and discussion and lesson-creating sessions on topics ranging from republican government and slavery to the role of limited government and commerce. Miller-Alper, who has taught for 37 years, travels widely in pursuit of more knowledge about government and history. Last summer, she was chosen by the Center for the American Idea/Liberty Fund to study the U.S. Constitution in Philadelphia.
The 1989 Texas Teacher of the Year, Miller-Alper was also chosen as an alternate for a separate grant, Immigration in the Lower East Side of New York. Spring Branch School of Choice is the district's alternative secondary high school. It is located at 9016 Westview.