HUTTO – Teachers in Hutto received $48,000 to help grow their skills and students.
On Friday, March 11, Hutto ISD announced that six paraprofessionals were chosen to receive the “Grow Your Own” grant scholarship.
Hutto ISD has partnered with Texas State University for grant recipients to earn their teaching certification and become Hippo Nation Educators by 2024. They will be earning their Early Childhood Education – sixth grade certification or Special Education certification to teach students in Hutto ISD.
These scholarships were funded by a grant Hutto ISD received through TEA’s Texas COVID Learning Acceleration Supports (TCLAS) program and will support the recipients as they become certified teachers.
This year’s recipients are Elisa Hood-Waddle and Natacha Barbosa from Hutto Middle School; Lindsay Brown from Veterans’ Hill Elementary; Uma Rao from Farley Middle School; Gloriana Price from Nadine Johnson Elementary; and Tony Carr from the Ninth Grade Center.
Barbosa and Carr are pursing special education certification, while the other recipients are pursuing childhood education through sixth grade certification. For the educators, this is an opportunity to complete a goal some have had for years.
“This grant means I can finally continue and finish my educational career when life experiences made me put it on hold. I was a single parent for 13 years. I became the caregiver for my parents and went through unforeseeable circumstances,” Hood-Waddle said.
Brown said it has always been her dream to be a teacher, and that dream is closer to reality.
“It means by doing what I love, I can inspire and challenge young minds as my elementary teachers once did for me,” she said. “My favorite aspect is that I can show my daughters that it is never too late to aspire to be greater in their career. Grow where you are planted.”
Carr and Price said this grant will help them better serve the students and their community.
Barbosa hopes to live, laugh and love more because of this grant.
“This grant means I get to live a new experience, laugh through challenges with others and love on children more,” she said.
Rao is looking to the future and how the scholarship will impact her and her students.
“This grant means a new whole world of possibilities has opened up for me, and I am very excited for what the future holds,” she said.
The Grow Your Own program is designed to facilitate increased entry of qualified, diverse candidates into the teaching profession. The program provides support for paraprofessionals to become certified teachers.
For more information about Hutto ISD’s #GrowWithUS program and career pathways, email lindsie. [email protected].
