Grants
FIRE Inclusion Award winners and nominees
Kelli Sims - Corpus Christi Catholic School
Mrs. Sims was nominated based on the time she devotes to students after school to help them better understand their English assignments. She works with kids of all levels (some with learning difficulties). She does a great job of catering to all learning levels in her classroom.
Chris Fields - St. Jude
She is an angel. She retired from the public schools and came back to work for our school when she could be enjoying retirement because she saw the need to help these special kids. She is so kind and passionate about helping our kids who have needs believing in them. She is the reason many of our kids have been able to stay at our school and succeed.
Mary Horn - High School of St. Thomas More
She has worked tirelessly the past three years to help teachers understand accommodations, modifications, and inclusion. She is our Special Education teacher, which is currently a part-time role, who spends the rest of the day in the front office as the attendance secretary and registrar. She loves all of the students like her own, and so she also calls them to their potential. Seeing students come into her class very under-confident and then leave feeling empowered by the end of the year has been so cool!
Honorable Mentions - Teachers nominated for our FIRE Inclusion Champion Award
Teresa Pina - Corpus Christi
She understands different kids learn differently and implements a variety of learning methods in her classroom that adjust to ALL learners, such as creating different spelling level groups and using stand up desks for kids who don’t sit well for long. She makes every child in her classroom feel successful!!
Meg O'Brian - Corpus Christi
She has been a champion for my son. She not only is his check in and check out person at school but has shared many ideas with administration and my child’s teachers to help make it through his day. She even has offered her own time to spend some time after school allowing my son to do tech work for enjoyment. She is making our school a great place! Making positive changes and adapting to the changing culture of education.
Amanda Stanko - Corpus Christi
She works so hard getting all the kids involved and excited about STEM. I had a child hospitalized and she checked in everyday and sent gifts to the hospital. She is an absolutely amazing person. The students just adore her and her joy for teaching. There isn’t a better teacher or someone that works harder.
Becky Hester - Corpus Christi
She had taken the time to build a rapport with our son as a student and person. She continues to find different ways to accommodate him, give him positive reinforcement and brainstorm with the team how to make things less of a struggle for him. Positive behavior plan that helps him feel included and successful.
Deborrah Pagel - St. Thomas More
She has stuck with our school through great adversity. She has done so with joy and a smile on her face as she radiates the love of Jesus. She strives to do everything she can to help each and every one of her students fall in love with art and provides great differentiated instruction that meets all students where they’re at. She seeks to educate her students as a whole person rather than just an art student and she lives out her love of Jesus in all she does which is inspiring to others. As a former student of hers I fell into a deeper love of my faith because of watching her express hers. I only took one year of art and she’s a teacher who remains in contact with me, who continues to care about my life because she met me where I was at which made me want to be a teacher who is able to do the same.