Texas Teachers Give ‘Most Likely to Become a Terrorist’ Award to Seventh Grader

During a mock awards ceremony on Tuesday, teachers at the Anthony Aguirre Junior High in Channelview, Texas gave a 13-year-old girl an award offensively titled “Most Likely to Become a Terrorist.”

Seventh grader Lizeth Villanueva was the recipient of the award. A teacher handed several certificates out to students, which included the titles “Most Likely to Cry for Every Little Thing” and “Most Likely to be Homeless,” in two honors classes while other teachers watched and found the actions humorous.

“She said that some people might get offended, but she doesn’t really care about our feelings,” Lizeth told KHOU, the local news station. “She was laughing about it.”

Lizeth and her mom, however, didn’t find the insensitive award ceremony to be funny.

“It doesn’t look like a joke to me,” Ena Hernandez, Lizeth’s mom, said.

Hernandez claimed her daughter has never had a discipline problem and is part of an advanced academic program at the school.

“It doesn’t look good at all, especially coming from a teacher, a grown-up woman,” Hernandez said. “It doesn’t look good because everything that’s going on right now.”

The mock award ceremony occurred just one day after the suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England.

The principal, Eric Lathan, personally apologized to Hernandez for the teachers’ poor and inappropriate actions. Lizeth hasn’t returned to school since she was issued the certificate and hopes the teachers get fired.

The Channelview Independent School District, located near Houston, has issued an apology in a statement on behalf of the matter.

“The Channelview ISD Administration would like to apologize for the insensitive and offensive fake mock awards that were given to students in a classroom,” the statement said. “Channelview ISD would like to assure all students, parents and community members that these award statements and ideals are not representative of the district’s vision, mission and educational goals for our students.”

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