Lisa Shed of Lisa’s Dance Connection received the honor before a crowd of about 300.
The chamber honored Rosemary B. Hauser, executive director of the Temple College Foundation, as recipient of the Women in Leadership Award for Excellence.
And for the second straight year, Eula Jett of Enviro-Clean Products was named Red Carpet Ambassador of the Year.
Less than three years ago, Ms. Shed moved into a new state-of-the-art dance studio here, including large dance rooms and professional hardwood-sprung floors. She offers lessons to students of all ages in ballet, tap, jazz, hip- hop and other types of dance. She opened her first studio here in 1992.
“Early in life, I danced everywhere I could: in dance studios, in local talent shows, at dance camps, conventions and competitions throughout the country, on my high school dance team, in college and even in New York City and Disney World,” she told the Telegram in an interview two years ago.
“But my love for teaching superceded all else. I realized quite early that if I performed, I might inspire one or two little children in the audience, but if I taught dance classes to hundreds of children, then hundreds of little dancers’ dreams would come true.”
She has five instructors, two assistants and three student teachers on her staff, and she also teaches, according to her Web site.
Ms. Hauser has been involved in education for more than 25 years, spending part of her career in public schools as a teacher, administrator and fundraiser. She taught at Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and at Southwestern University in Georgetown as an adjunct professor and evaluator of grant projects.
She has also spent five years in the private sector.
Most recently, she was executive director for the Taylor Educational Enrichment Foundation and chaired the fundraising committee for the Temple College at Taylor Foundation.
Ms. Hauser is also director of institutional advancement and alumni affairs at Temple College.
The college is presently involved in a campaign to raise $8 million for capital projects and $1 million for scholarships.
In addition to honoring these women, the banquet attendees bid during a live auction for a golf trip to Las Vegas donated by Wildflower Country Club, four field box seats to a Houston Astros game donated by Drayton McLane and the Astros, and a limited-edition lithographic reproduction of a George Boutwell painting.
Winners were also chosen for a one-week vacation in Naples, Fla., donated by Tanya Mikeska, Architectural Edge; four field box seats to a Houston Astros game donated by Drayton McLane and the Astros; banner ads on the chamber of commerce Web site donated by the chamber; a Kodak digital camera donated by Best Buy; and a hotel package donated by Fairfield Inn of Marriott.
