Shanker Hall reverberated with enthusiasm and lots of pride as hundreds of colleagues, families and friends paid tribute to the outstanding educators honored at the UFT’s inaugural Academic High Schools Awards Celebration on March 27.

It was as if everyone at the evening event had been waiting for just such a chance to recognize and say thank you to the honorees.

Vice President for Academic High Schools Janella Hinds, the organizer of the event, said the UFT’s first awards celebration was “an opportunity to honor those going above and beyond to connect with students, communities and the union.”

More than 60 Curtis HS educators filled three long reserved rows up front in the hall to express their regard for Joseph Baratta, one of eight educators to receive an Excellence in Education award.

Colleague Calvin Cress raved about the program that Baratta, a special education teacher and coach of the junior varsity football team, created to help school athletes succeed beyond athletics.

“All the school athletes in the program that Joe designed for them wound up with academic averages 10 points higher than their peers, and they performed 600 hours of community service,” Cress said.

For Marcia Halperin, the wife of Mark Halperin, the Stuyvesant HS chapter leader who was recognized for his union leadership, the evening was an acknowledgment “of all those long hours and phone calls and discussions around the dinner table” that go on after the school day ends.

Excelsior Preparatory HS Chapter Leader Nick Rampici extolled the commitment of English teacher Rockeia Graham, one of the Excellence in Education awardees.

“All the time and planning that Rockeia puts in in the classroom, after school and behind the scenes with colleagues really gives meaning to the word dedicated,” he said.

In a show of collegiality, scores of UFT staffers from the small Young Women’s Leadership School in Astoria crowded onto the stage to help unfurl the banner recognizing their school community for its strong sense of unity, active involvement in the union and contribution by every single member to COPE.

In accepting the special Vanguard Award, Leo Casey, the executive director of the Albert Shanker Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based think tank affiliated with the AFT, said he considered himself “blessed to be a teacher, the noblest work anyone can do.” Looking to the future, Casey, who preceded Hinds as the UFT vice president for academic high schools, urged, “We don’t simply want public education to be what it is now, but what it can and should be.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew spoke to those assembled of the ongoing struggle to protect teachers’ rights and properly fund schools. He congratulated the 23 individual award winners “for all the work you do and all the kids you help.”

As the evening drew to a close, Veronica Maslyukoba, part of the Staten Island Technical HS contingent, declared the event a “great idea, a wonderful chance to say thank you.”

For more photos, see the gallery.