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Temple ISD

Alumni Spotlight


Temple ISD has a long history of excellence and we have had many, many graduates who have gone on to exemplify our vision to become influential and impactful leaders in their local communities and beyond.  Temple ISD Alumni Spotlight will feature alumnus and alumna that have represented our community and our district in a positive way.

To nominate yourself or a Temple ISD graduate, please complete our online Alumni Spotlight Nomination Form.  Nominations will be reviewed and candidates selected by the Temple ISD Board of Trustees Policy Committee.  Honorees will be recognized at a Board Meeting and through the district's social media accounts and website.

Erika Allen Bennett, MD '09
 

Erika Allen Bennett is a proud graduate of the Temple HS class of 2009, and she was Valedictorian of her class. Bennett also attended Bethune and Kennedy-Powell Elementary Schools and Lamar Middle School.Erika Allen Bennett

 

Dr. Bennett would go on to graduate with honors from Texas Tech University where she also was active in student government, served as president of her sorority, and was on the Homecoming Court. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in 2017 and returned to Temple to complete her residency in general surgery at Baylor Scott and White Hospital and served as Chief Resident and received the Outstanding Surgery Teaching Resident award. Dr. Allen completed a Fellowship in trauma/surgical critical care in North Carolina and recently moved to Medford, Oregon with her husband, and works as a surgeon in private practice at Asante Rogue Regional Hospital.

 

Dr. Allen remained active in the Temple community during her residency at Baylor Scott and White and even volunteered to speak with Temple High School students who were interested in medicine. She is passionate about medicine and has a heart for her patients and the profession. Dr. Allen has won numerous awards and has been responsible for a multitude of publications and presentations during her career as she continues to represent Temple ISD.

 

What does being a Wildcat mean to you?

 

My high school years were some of the best years of my life. At Temple High School, I made life-long friends, developed my critical thinking skills in IB courses, sang my heart out in Polyfoniks, pushed my athletic skills in track, cross country, volleyball, softball, and swimming & diving, built a solid base knowledge of Spanish, learned from countless mentors, teachers, and coaches, and earned a degree that set me up for a successful career as a surgeon. Returning to Temple for my surgical residency really showed me how special it was to be a Wildcat. I was connected to so many individuals in the community, just from our shared memories of Temple High. I am honored to be recognized as in the Alumni Spotlight and hope that there continue to be Wildcats who get to enjoy the same wonderful experience I did.

 

Laura Lee Slattery O'Rear '76
Laura Lee Slattery O'Rear

 

Laura Lee Slattery O’Rear graduated from Temple High School in the class of 1976. Born and raised in Temple, she also attended Jefferson and Dickson Elementary Schools and Travis Middle School.

 

O’Rear would go on to graduate from Temple College and the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor before starting her career as an educator. She started her career as an Early Childhood Teacher at Scott Elementary and would go on to teach at Vandiver Elementary and Freeman Heights Elementary Schools. O’Rear moved to Gruver ISD and served in a variety of roles, even spending three years as superintendent after earning a master’s degree and completing mid-management and superintendent certification at Sul Ross State University. She has also been a principal in Merkel and Hamlin ISD’s and supervised student teachers for McMurry University. Even in retirement, she has stayed involved with education, working as a bookkeeper for a private, non-profit childcare academy in Tennessee.

 

O’Rear remembers her third grade teacher, Mrs. Hodges, at Dickson Elementary as her favorite teacher and credits a number of her former teachers and administrators in Temple ISD as being instrumental in providing her with the tools she needed to be a better teacher and administrator during her career in education.

 

What does being a Wildcat mean to you?

 

It means that you are always loyal to Temple and the values and traditions that have been part of Temple and THS for generations. I remember stories my grandmother told of providing milk to the elementary school that my mother attended and how she was so proud to do this to help all students. This was right after the Depression era. She was a widow, on limited income, but had dairy cattle so she could help the school my mom attended. This pride was instilled in me early that not only do you attend school, but you give back while attending in the form of keeping your grades up, listening and respecting your teachers and to learn as much as you can to provide for yourself in the future. I can still see my mom in my memories of washing my glasses every morning and telling me that she washed them so I could see the board and learn because I had to get and education to get into college. I was the first in my family to attend/graduate from college. I have other relatives who attended and taught in Temple, so it was an honor to have the title as “Teacher” in a district in which I gained so much knowledge and expertise and join the ranks of the teaching field. I always took that with me where I moved that I was first a Temple Wildcat regardless of school colors. It was always said with pride.