“I’m all about justice. If I see something that’s unfair, I feel like I need to make it right.

“In high school, there was this girl who was autistic. Not a lot of people knew it. They just thought she was some weirdo. I was a senior, and she was a freshman or sophomore. She was a skinny little thing, maybe 4-foot-10.

“One day at lunch, these guys threw her tray of food on the floor because she sat at their table. I got in their faces. I told them they shouldn’t be acting like that toward people, regardless of their situation in life. The principal got involved. He thanked me for sticking up for the girl, and the other two students got sent to in-school suspension.

“Then last year around Thanksgiving at the grocery store where I work, I tried to stand up for a co-worker. She’s a very nice person who never raises her voice, and she was getting yelled at by a customer. She’s about 5-foot-2, and this guy was about 6 foot and twice her size in weight.

“She was stocking sausages, and she had a pallet of stuff out there. He was complaining that he couldn’t reach the product that he wanted. He didn’t say, excuse me. He just got mad and started yelling at her. I saw it, and I stepped in. I got yelled at, too, so I yelled back. I kind of told him that she did nothing wrong. I ended up getting in trouble. I got written up for not following procedures.

“I try to treat everybody with kindness. If it doesn’t happen, and I go a little bit too far and act out of character, it’s probably for a good reason. I guess it’s because I’ve been wronged so many times in my own life. When there was no one there to stand up for me, I know what it was like to feel powerless and feel like nobody had my back. So I try to be that person for other people.”

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“I was attending University of Texas to become a P.E. teacher. It was during World War II, and the Navy had taken over the dormitories. There were thousands of good-looking sailors studying to be pilots or ship commanders.

“By the end of two years, I decided to go home to Huffman and rest a semester. It wasn’t the studying. I was just having way too much fun for a young girl.

“Because of the war, there was a shortage of teachers. When I arrived home, the pastor of First Baptist Church was teaching grades 4, 5 and 6. He was helping out until they could find someone. We lived next door to a board member who had known me for years. When I was offered the position, I became Miss Joy to 12 students who were together in one room. Two rows were fourth grade, one row was fifth grade, and there were three sixth-grade students.

“It was love at first sight between the teacher and pupils. I was only 19, and they were 10, 11 and 12 years old.

“One day I had them all read aloud. Then I said, ‘For the next 30 minutes, I want you to read silently.’ As I look up, there stands this little boy, Irby ‘Buddy’ May. I said, ‘Buddy, do I come back and lean on your desk while you’re working?’ He said, ‘No, mam.’ So I said, ‘Well, go sit down and do what I asked you to do.’ He starts back to his desk, turns around, and says, ‘But you could if you wanted to.’ He became my pet from that moment on.

“After finishing the school year and one more year, I returned to Austin to complete my degree and become a full-fledged teacher. I went on to a 33-year career as a P.E. teacher, and I loved every minute of it.

“But one of the happiest times of my life was teaching those 12 students in that classroom in Huffman. We kept up with each other through the years — especially Buddy. Just this April, I visited with him at an event in Huffman. Not long after that, he died. He was 85.

“As I was reading his obituary and all the wonderful things he had done in his life, I realized that had I not had those 12 wonderful children, I would never have stayed in education all those years. God blessed my life with 12 of his best.”

— Joy Walker, 96

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“During my 31 years teaching, it was always about my students. I loved my students.

“If they asked for advice, I gave it. I told them, ‘I’ll never lie to you. I’ll never expect you to do something that I wouldn’t do. If you have an issue, and I feel you’re right, I’ll go to the wall for you.’

“In a lot of ways, I was like a second mama to some of them. One student didn’t come from a really great household, so I was her safe space. I told her — and this is what I told all my kids — ‘Dream big, work hard, and you can accomplish anything.’ And she did. She’s married. She’s a successful elementary school teacher in Florida. And she wrote a book that’s on Amazon.

“I always made sure that I was available for the underdog. I had a student who was in special ed and was a football player. He had an opportunity to go to University of Houston, but a counselor told him, ‘You don’t need to go there. You won’t graduate anyway.’ When he told me that, it broke my heart. I looked at him and said, ‘OK, now is the time to prove her wrong.’ He graduated from high school, played football and graduated from U of H, and now he’s a patient liaison at UTMB. This was a kid that a counselor gave up on.

“There are a lot of kids out there who just need somebody to say, ‘Hey, I believe in you. You can do this.’

“When they’re preparing you to be a teacher, they don’t account for so many important aspects of the job. Like being in a classroom with 25-30 children, and figuring out what each individual need is. How you can work with a child who may be dyslexic, or from a broken home, or have a mom or daddy who just died. The compassion aspect is something that has to evolve.

“I always told my students, ‘If you make a bad decision, it does not define your life. Only you can do that. You can look at that decision and grow from it, or get bitter from it.’ I said, ‘You need to grow.’ I’m proud to say that so many of my students through the years grew from it.”

— Melanie Rayner

She taught government, economics, U.S. history, world history and world geography in three school districts, including 19 years at Lee High School.

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“In the early ‘90s, Central Heights was the type of neighborhood where you would get off the school bus, do your homework, and come to the park to play ball until the street lights came on. It was a tough neighborhood, with rivalries and occasional fights. Not the gun violence you see today. You would fight, take your licks, and get up to play again.

“You built mental toughness out here. It’s where I learned everything. There was a church next door. So those are probably the two biggest foundations for my life: church and the playground.

“There were elements of drug dealing and violence. But overall, this was a good place to grow up: good foundation, good principles, people helping each other.

“I was fortunate to have mentors. My dad exposed me to certain things, like opportunities to play sports. I had coaches and principals who looked out for me. They saw something in me, and gave me an extra push to help me out.

“But as I got into education, I began noticing things that were missing the mark. Things we weren’t teaching students. Like, no one ever sat me down and talked about finances: credit, the difference between rent and mortgage, ownership versus working for someone. No one ever showed me how a job application works. No one taught us etiquette, like how to open doors for someone. Everything I learned about dating was from my fellas, or watching my parents or other relationships. But there were no lessons or classes for it.

“One of my best friends from this neighborhood — talented athlete, smart, funny, good looking — died at a young age. I feel like the big thing missing for some of my friends who died or went to jail were the opportunities, the exposure.

“There are young people today with million dollar minds, but they have a small town mentality. They think they can’t do anything else. But you can. You can travel. You can come back and give back. There are so many opportunities available. But until you know, you don’t know. So I decided to do something about it.”

Heron launched the TIE program — Thomas Institute of Excellence — in 2018 as a way to mentor young men.

Showing them the way

“Everything we do in the TIE program is built on excellence, and a model of service before self. A big component is exposing these young men to all the opportunities available to them. We let them meet business owners, and give them the blueprint for what they can aspire to do with their lives.

“What I try to teach the kids that I didn’t get as a young child is the power of relationships. Everywhere we visit has either a tie to myself or the hometown community. Putting them in front of successful people who ran the same streets, hung out at the same parks, went to the same schools, shows them that, hey, you can do this, too. There’s nothing stopping you.

“We take trips. We do community service. We expose them to all types of experiences, like fine dining. We’ve had dinners at places like Del Frisco, Steak 48 and Taste Bar.

“And then just giving them opportunities to look good. A lot of these kids have never worn a nice shirt and tie. The effect they see when they dress up and walk into a place, the attention that turns on them, is awesome.

“They love pulling up to restaurants and seeing the nice vehicles, and enjoying nice meals. Not saying you have to live that type of lifestyle. I’m good eating off a food truck, but I do like a nice steak sometimes. But I know that if they aspire to be like that, we have to teach them now what it takes. You can’t wait until they’re 25 and struggling and say, you should have done this and that. We have to give them the ‘how’ and ‘why’ at an early age.

“Hopefully, the program will grow, and we’ll be able to be a blessing to more students. That’s really my goal: to be a positive influence for as many kids as possible. That’s all I really care about, giving kids an opportunity. When you know better, you do better.

“I just pray God continues to bless me, so I can continue to bless my community. This is home. This is where the seeds were planted. I consider everyone who comes from here just another branch on that family tree that I can help.”

Taking time to listen

Heron also is principal of the Eagle Positive Intervention Center in Barbers Hill ISD. The student-centered program focuses on academics, discipline and structure. Its mission is to provide an environment where students will recognize they have the ability to learn, add value and have worth.

“I feel like I have the best job on the planet. I just love it. I’m able to reach kids that a lot of people can’t reach. It’s always been my forte. I’m kind of like a child whisperer.

“It’s just being vulnerable and open to provide students an opportunity to be heard. Sometimes as adults, we want to force things on students without ever actually giving them the opportunity to speak. You have to see where they’re coming from. You have to be relatable. And they have to know that you care.

“My biggest thing is, I show up. When my kids need me, I’m there. I don’t care if it’s a sporting event or dance recital. Or it can be difficult situations with parents. I’m just going to show up.

“That’s the most important thing. Kids have to know that you care about them. Once they know I’ll show up in that way, they’ll do anything for you.”

The post TIE program sets positive course for young men appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“For about 10 years now, I’ve been teaching adults how to speak English. It’s through Harris County Department of Education. I want the world to be a better place. How better to contribute to that than by teaching these folks who come here and want to learn the language.

“Initially, classes were full of people from Mexico. Then came Central America and South America. We’ve also had folks from Puerto Rico, Vietnam, Pakistan — just all over.

“I have a lady from Honduras who only completed third grade. So she’s very limited. Her children speak English. She does not. I’m not sure if she wants to become a citizen. Maybe she just wants to help her kids with homework. Or she just wants to make an appointment with a doctor in English.

“Then you’ve got your educated who come with degrees: heavy duty attorneys, doctors, civil engineers. They want to go through the process of learning English, and then move on in their career paths.

“I don’t play favorites with the educated. I teach everyone like they’re human, with dignity. I may have to work a lot harder outside of class with the lady from Honduras to make sure she understands the grammar piece. But that’s OK. We can do that.

“As part of our curriculum, there also are citizenship classes. It teaches a history of the United States, the good and the ugly. These people want to be here. So why not create an adult learning community that knows our culture. That’s important to me.

“I can remember back in ’81 at the University of Houston doing a play about Jose Campos Torres, who was drowned by the Houston cops. Also when HISD tried to charge tuition for the children of undocumented workers to learn. That’s crazy. We can’t do that. Because of that background, I feel like these folks need a chance in America. I’m part of that chance. And that motivates the hell out of me.”

— Natalia Guzman

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The post Teacher helps break language barrier appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“There was a family that had four children at San Jacinto Elementary, including two with cerebral palsy. The parents were leasing a house to purchase. According to the contract, when they finally purchased the home, the slumlord would pay any back taxes. But he never did, and the city was going to foreclose on them.

“So I went directly to him and said, ‘You promised to do this. The city is going to foreclose. That’s just not fair.” And he was like, ‘You can’t come in here and talk to me that way. Who do you think you are?’ I said, ‘Well, sir, I’m just going to have to go to the media with this. Here’s two children with cerebral palsy, in wheelchairs, and they’re about to foreclose on their house. There’s no justice here.’ He said, ‘You do what you have to do.’

“So the next day, I went to city hall with the mom and the foreclosure notice. I asked them to explain what’s going on. They were like, ‘It’s not the family. It’s because this man is not paying. We have no choice but to foreclose.’ I said, ‘Do you know who this family is and what their situation is with their children?’ They did not.

“And as I began explaining, guess who walked in? The slumlord. He slammed down $5,000 to pay the back taxes. And as he was leaving, he said, ‘You’re never to step foot in my place of business again.’ The people at city hall were like, what’s happening? I said, ‘I just tried to convince him that we were working for the betterment of this family. I guess it finally got to him.’

“A few years later, one of the children with cerebral palsy died, and the family invited me to the funeral. That was not an easy thing, but these people mattered. And they cared for me because I had helped them.

“You know, we can’t just go to work 9 to 5 and make things all better. Sometimes we have to go that extra mile. We have to go to city hall. We have to go to the guy and put some fire under him to make a difference.”

— Natalia Guzman

As a Harris County youth service specialist for 17 years, Natalia worked with family involvement coordinators in Goose Creek CISD to address social, economic and academic needs of students.

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The post She goes the extra mile to help family appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“All the kids, from kindergarten through fifth grade, have to take art. So I get to see every student in the school once a week. My first year, I taught a lot about art history and the background of the artists’ lives. And the kids’ eyes would just glaze over. They would fall asleep in class. After a while I realized that the best structure was to give them as much time as possible to do actual hands-on art, with just enough instruction to get the message across.

“Some of the kids who kind of gave me behavior problems were the ones who didn’t really enjoy drawing or painting. They didn’t feel like their art work was as good as the other kids. I could relate to that. That’s how I felt when I was going through school. Then in college, I realized there are many different mediums and different ways to go in art. I discovered that what I enjoyed most are things like sculpture, printmaking and origami.

“The first time I did origami with the kids, they were like, ‘That was so cool. Can we do it again?’ That blew my mind because it’s something that I really love. Now we do origami for about three weeks every year. It’s gotten to the point that on day one of school, they’re asking, ‘When are we doing origami this year?’

“Sometimes in art, like on a drawing assignment, students have more freedom than they can kind of handle at that age. But with origami, there’s a step-by-step process and specific directions to follow. So when they finish, there’s that level of fulfillment and achievement that’s pretty satisfying.

“In art, there aren’t a lot of times where you feel like you really finished a piece. It happens every time I paint. About 30 minutes before I stop is when it looks really good. But then I work 30 more minutes, and I hate it by the end. I’m like, I wish I would have stopped 30 minutes ago. With origami you have a stopping point, and you’re able to say, look what I made. I didn’t overwork it to the point where I didn’t enjoy it anymore or feel like I messed it up. I think the kids feel that way, too.”

— Josh Crowhurst

Josh recently completed his sixth year as art teacher at Ashbel Smith Elementary School.

The post Art teacher shares his love for origami appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“Scott is a math teacher at Sterling (High School). And being completely honest, with COVID-19 still out there, I’m scared as can be about him being back in school.

“I’m having to put way too much trust and faith in other people. Generally, I’m not very comfortable with that. When something really matters, it’s do it yourself if you want it done right. So when you have to rely on hundreds of faculty and staff plus all the students to stay safe, it exponentially increases the anxiety level.

“Getting him ready looked way different this year. Normally, we’d be up there two to three days setting up and decorating. But this year he’s keeping most everything packed to keep it clean.

“We’re sewing washable MERV filters into his masks, then hanging them by the door. He’ll use a new mask every day. He’ll be coming into the house through the garage instead of the front door. We have a little decontamination station set up out there so he can Lysol his shoes and keys, and use hand sanitizer before he touches the door knob and comes in. He’ll drop his mask and clothes into a special laundry basket, and put on a robe to wear upstairs where he goes right into the shower.

“We bought an insulated lunch bag for him to take to school, because you don’t really want to go out to eat and come back covered in who knows what. We bought a microwave and a refrigerator for his room so he doesn’t have to enter another teacher’s classroom or the lounge. He has a large reusable water bottle with a screw-top lid, since straws and Yeti cups aren’t safe anymore. And we purchased two air purifiers to hopefully keep the air he’s breathing in the classroom cleaner.

“All of this is super depressing. I’m dying for a vaccine. I’m dying for these numbers to fall. I’m ready to get our lives back. I think everybody just wants normalcy at this point.”

— Kristin Sickle

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The post ‘I’m scared as can be about him being back in school’ appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’d say I was a curious kid. My mom would say destructive. When she was in my room cleaning, I only allowed her to touch my bed or chest of drawers. I had piles all over the room. I had a pile for an old, dead radio that I took apart. I had a pile for an old, dead clock that I took apart. I had a pile for an old TV that I was taking apart. I would take them all apart and try to put them back together. I just wanted to see how stuff worked.

“It paid off in the long run. When I got to graduate school and beyond in my career, some of the equipment we used could be pretty complicated mechanically. So it was nice to be able to take apart the guts of your own electron microscope, for example, and swap out a stage without having to call a service guy. I also kind of built machines that were computer controlled, writing codes for the device drivers and things like that. I definitely knew all the basics.

“When I was asked if I was interested in being an industrial sponsor for the Goose Creek school district’s robotics team, I said, sure. The kids had a great time. They learned all about computers and gears and motors, all that good stuff. There were competitions where you’d build a robot, and it was supposed to do tasks better than the other robots. It was fabulous.

“During my career at Exxon, I always enjoyed being a mentor. When it came to the kids on the robotics team, it was the same thing. I really enjoyed watching the transformation of the smart, geeky kids. Some kids who are really smart and make good grades can be kind of loners. They spend a lot of time playing on their computers and stuff, and they don’t have much in the way of social interactions. So to see them make friends and learn how to come together to be part of a team, that was pretty cool.

“It helps their skills, too, especially since robotics is becoming so important in manufacturing. Robotics is really changing the scheme of production, as far as how things will be done in the future. It’s neat to think about some of these kids being a part of that.”

— Jeff Butler

A physicist, Jeff built “the laboratory of my dreams” at Exxon Mobil (formerly Exxon) in Baytown. He spent his entire 34-year career there.

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The post Robotics team mentor helps other ‘curious’ kids appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I’ve been teaching for 15 years. But nothing I’ve experienced mentally prepared me for what we walked into this spring.

“In my classes, we keep up with what’s going on in the world. So we’d been discussing COVID-19 as it affected other countries. At the time, we had no idea the impact it would have on all of us.

“We left for spring break thinking we’d return like normal. We were prepared for that Monday as if it was going to happen. Then we got the news. And we had a week to kind of prepare for teaching online.

“I already used technology a lot in the classroom. My students had been using the online platform. So while the transition was an adjustment, it wasn’t overwhelming. The biggest thing I missed was the in-person classroom interaction. But I did learn a lot about what I can do online with students, just all the different platforms and cool things that are out there.

“As parents, we had a few challenges. With three girls on different campuses, we had three different things to follow. With my husband also working from home, there were five of us having to be online at the same time. We had to buy one more laptop so that each of us had a device.

“We made sure everybody had a little area in the house to work. And we learned just how important routines are with kids. We set expectations to make sure they were up early and getting their work done. The two older girls could basically function on their own. Our younger daughter needed a little more hands-on help.

“All three girls are pretty active with different activities, the two older ones especially. So this has been tough for them. They’re just ready to head back in for the new school year.

“As parents, we’ve kind of been waiting to see how that will look. What’s been going through our minds is like with most people: how safe will it be to go back, what will the protocols be like, that sort of thing. Not just for me as a teacher, but for my kids and all the other students.

“The decisions that are being made by schools and families are unprecedented, and it is difficult for all involved. But I will do my best to maximize safety measures within my classroom for myself, students and faculty interactions.”

— Maggie Cervantes

Maggie teaches Spanish at Barbers Hill High School. The school district plans to start classes on Aug. 19, offering in-school and remote learning options.

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