Some people know they have a career calling but it takes awhile achieve what they envision. That’s how it was for Nancy Ojeda, a 13-year veteran La Porte ISD teacher who teaches fifth-grade reading and social studies at Jennie Reid Elementary.
“I got a late start in teaching, having had three children first,” explained Ojeda. “I knew I was called to teach and during the many years that I went to school part time, I purchased educational supplies for my ‘someday classroom’ and filled up a closet in my home with what seemed like a ton of stuff.”
Ojeda’s vision for a classroom complete with everything her students would need to have a terrific learning experience didn’t turn out exactly as she had thought.
“When I started teaching in 1996, I quickly learned that my overstuffed closet at home didn't make a dent in my new classroom,” remembered Ojeda. “My room looked bare compared to other veteran teachers I worked with.”
Luckily for Ojeda, she learned about the La Porte Education Foundation’s grant program. Excitedly, she began to review educational curriculum catalogs that would apply to her students. “I was awarded four grants that first year, one in each of the four core educational areas that a self-contained elementary teacher teaches,” said Ojeda. “I’ve been told it was the first time that anyone received multiple grants in one year, so I earned the nickname, the Grant Queen!”
Ojeda is incredibly grateful to LPEF not just for those first grants but for the numerous grants she has received over the past 12 years.
“Without the Education Foundation, I most likely would have had to go without many materials I wanted for my students,” said Ojeda. “Some of my favorite grant awards include a visit from the Museum of Natural Science’s Discovery Dome where my students had the chance to experience outer space; an educational tour of Minute Maid Park that correlated with our math lessons; and blank, bound hardcover books where my students authored their own books and gave them as Mother’s Day gifts.
"I want to provide my kids with things that will leave positive and lasting memories of their educational experience in my classroom, and LPEF has made that possible.”
Ojeda realizes how fortunate she and her students have been because of the grants awarded by LPEF. While she continues to apply for creative, innovative grants that will benefit her students, she also wants every teacher to fulfill her or his classroom dream through LPEF.
“I encourage others, especially new teachers who may have had ‘a full closet, but an empty classroom,’ to take advantage of the wonderful opportunity possible with a LPEF grant!”
