Galveston Island Pachyderms Meeting with Julie Pickren
Thursday, February 24th
11:30AM – 1:00PM
Coastal Grill
1827 Strand Street, Galveston, TX 77550
All Guests Welcome!
Guest Speaker: Julie Pickren, Candidate for State Board of Education, Position 7
Julie Pickren was born and raised in Houston, Texas and currently resides in Manvel, Texas with her husband David and two children, Miles, 12 and Tyler, 10. Like many across the district, Julie is a small business owner. Reinvesting in the community and supporting charities is very important to Julie and David. Profits from their businesses support Christian churches in minority areas and Julie is a supporter of Pro-Life ministries. They also invest in real estate to provide affordable housing for Native American Indians.
Julie has long standing educational leadership experience while serving in many forms. She is a former Board Member of Heritage Christian Academy, current Board Member of Fresh Impact Christian Academy, and Alvin ISD Trustee from 2015-2021. Her six year tenure as a Trustee saw many successes and awards. Alvin ISD is one of the fastest growing school districts in Texas and built 9 new schools and lowered the property tax rate while Julie was a School Board Trustee. She has received many awards for Fiscal Responsibility from the State of Texas, Honor Board Award, and many student academic success awards. Julie is proud of her record as being a huge proponent for teachers. Under her leadership, AISD has some of the highest paid teachers in Texas, and 83% of their M&O budget is directly tied to the classroom.
Julie believes that together we can ensure that each child’s education prepares them to achieve the American Dream with Texas Values. She also understands that every child is unique and has different educational needs that she will protect, including home school, private, charter and public education. Julie is running for State Board of Education to serve all children in Texas, and that is why we must elect her to SBOE, Position 7.
In addition to her long-standing commitment to providing Texas Children with the best education, Julie is equally committed to the conservative values of the Republican Party. Julie volunteers in several organizations and enjoys helping to expand the Republican Party in Brazoria County as a Precinct Chair. She also has been a Delegate for many years to the Republican Party of Texas State Convention as well as a Delegate to the National Republican Convention. She was proud to serve on the Legislative Priorities Committee at the 2020 RPT State Convention. Currently, she is working with the Texas Legislature to draft and pass legislation that will ban Critical Race Theory from Texas Education.
This is not an endorsement of the Galveston County GOP. This is for informational purposes only.
Blake Apffel is a lifelong Conservative Republican and 5th Generation Galvestonian. He received his undergraduate from Texas A&M University where he majored in Communication and went on to receive his Juris Doctorate from South Texas College of Law. Since becoming licensed to practice law in 2015, Blake has successfully argued verdicts before the 1st and 14th Courts of Appeal, been honored as a Texas Rising Star Lawyer in 2020 and 2021, and recognized by the Galveston Daily News 40 under 40.
Dr. Spiers is a graduate of Duke University and subsequently attended medical school at the University of Tennessee Center for Health Sciences in Memphis, Tennessee. He continued in Memphis to complete his general surgery residency. The Memphis medical complex was home to one of the nation’s busiest training sites for trauma surgery and a regional Veteran’s Affairs referral hospital.
Norman Pappous: