Last week, I learned that my hometown school district, La Porte ISD, named me one of this year’s three Distinguished Alumni honorees. I couldn’t be more honored, especially since I’ll be inducted alongside two of my legendary teachers, Kerry and Steve Regan, who played a huge role in shaping me as a teenager. I’m a big supporter of public schools and attribute so much of who I’ve become to the teachers who invested in me when I was younger, many of whom I still stay in contact with. I started my visual storytelling career in LPTV, shed my shyness in theatre, and learned carpentry and welding right alongside the regular academics. Thanks to the supportive community it serves, LPISD is a model for what a balanced education should look like. La Porte as a city is a special place and anyone who knows me knows that I always make a point to highlight its influence on me when I can. To be “seen” by my hometown like this just hits different. So thank you to the folks who nominated me, including my brother Chris Sauceda. And thank you to Walter Jackson and the School Board (Melissa Hager Crutcher Karen Hall Danny Hanks and others) for the unanimous vote. I so appreciate y’all!