Safety Specialist Fiona Halloway quickly became a familiar and friendly face around Hardy Oak Elementary School. 

While her duties mainly consist of safety protocols such as checking doors to ensure they're locking correctly, walking the school's perimeter, and monitoring traffic during drop-off and pick-up – she's also embraced building relationships with the students, staff, and families. 

The rapport and trust Halloway has built haven't gone unnoticed. Hardy Oak parent Amber Freitas wrote an email giving Halloway a Shout Out for the positive impact she's had on campus.

 

"I want to give a shout out to Hardy Oak Elementary School's Safety Specialist Fiona Halloway!
 
Fiona Halloway is doing such an amazing job at the school! I always notice her watching everyone in the car line and making sure all the kids are safe. I really appreciate her taking the time to get to know the kids, spending time with my Pre-K and 1st grade children, and making their classes safety badges! It really meant a lot to my kids!
 
I definitely have peace of mind knowing she is watching over the students and the school. Please let her know how much I appreciate her, and I can truly see how much she cares for the school!" 

Thank you, Fiona Halloway, for ensuring our safety and embracing our children #theNEISDway. 

If you want to thank an educator or staff member, we've made it easy. You can send them a Staff Shout Out, and they will be notified via email. You can also share more information about the experience and tell your story by visiting neisd.net/shoutouts.

Erika Ramirez can always tell when her daughters spend time with Bianca Martinez in music class at Canyon Ridge Elementary School. They come home excited to share all the fun things they did in class. 

She also noticed her girls gaining confidence through music. This prompted her to Shout Out Mrs. Martinez #theNEISDway 

“I just wanted to give a shout out to Mrs. Martinez! Mrs. Martinez has impacted my kids’ confidence through music. My girls come home each day and tell me they look forward to going to music class because they love it so much. 

Recently, first grade had a school play and the effort and time put into the play shined through my daughter as she sang and danced on stage. I was in tears and incredibly proud! Her positive attitude and love for teaching really comes out! Thank you for creating these memories for students, as well as parents. We will always remember this.” 

If you want to thank an educator, we’ve made it easy. You can send them a Staff Shout Out, and they will be notified. You can also share more information about the experience and tell your story by visiting neisd.net/shoutouts.

“My time at NEISD was very important to me and to my career trajectory, and I don’t think I would be where I am without it.”

“Trajectory” is the perfect word for Reagan High School graduate Daniel Pineda. His world now revolves around rockets. He’s an assistant professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). His work is hard for most to understand, but for those who do, it’s impressive.

“I manage a laboratory and group of graduate and undergraduate students to develop laser-based and optically-based methods for measurements in extreme environments, like rockets,” said Pineda. “To put it simply, we try to make measurements that couldn’t be made before, and we try to do it in the harshest environments you can imagine, all in the pursuit of more fuel-efficient engines and a reduction in environmental harm.” 

After earning his doctorate at the University of California, Berkeley (UCB), he started working at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). During his first year, his team broke the collegiate altitude record for a student-built, liquid-propellant rocket. Now, at UTSA, he’s earning half a million-dollar grants for his research.

His out-of-this-world talent was cultivated by North East ISD teachers. Pineda attended Hidden Forest Elementary School and Encino Park Elementary School. He was part of the first sixth-grade class at Tejeda Middle School and graduated top of his class at Reagan in 2008. He can still name his teachers from nearly every class and their impact on him.

Sara Bealor was his kindergarten teacher at Hidden Forest. She found a way to help him channel his curiosity in a constructive way. His Debate coach at Reagan, Heather Hayes, became a role model for him and helped him think about what he could do to influence change in the world he wanted to see. Elaine Freeland and Jan Ross were his English teachers at Reagan, and they taught him how to write and make sure every sentence and every word had a purpose. He credits them and the things he learned in their classrooms with helping him write and win important research grants. 

There was Stephen Gibbs, Ivonne Ruiz, William Hoffman, Edmund Tejeda, Lynn Bodet and Linda Pratt. He took several Art classes with Susan Pierce and Jessica Gonzales. They taught him how to be resourceful and the importance of expressing himself. Those lessons stick with him, but so do lessons from Computer Science teacher Wayne Becken and Chemistry teacher Barbara Harrell. 

“Mr. Becken was my first introduction to computer science, and I can confidently say that I learned a lot of what I know today about C++ from him. Mrs. Harrell made my first experiences with chemistry really exciting and fun. The mnemonic devices she taught us to remember the patterns of certain reactions or oxidation states, I still use today to remember chemical concepts in my classes and in my research.”

While Becken and Harrell are the teachers who probably most closely align with his current work, Pineda says every one of his teachers helped better prepare him to be the rocket scientist he is today. For him, STEM was only part of the equation to becoming the well-rounded person he is today. So, he would challenge current NEISD students to get creative with their electives even if they know what they want to do when they grow up.

“Despite pursuing a technical degree focused on STEM, the best preparation I received from NEISD was the comprehensive curriculum covered by my arts and humanities classes and electives, which included Art, Spanish, English, History and Debate. Middle school and high school are critical times for identity development, and I would confidently say that my identity and the idea of what I wanted to do with my life were forged in those classes. An important part of being a professor, an educator, a mentor, and leader is the ability to empathize with others and see collaborators and trainees in a way that acknowledges where they come from, and figure out a way to meet people where they are so that they can then be elevated. These are all things I learned and witnessed directly in my teachers at NEISD, and I am lucky to have had the opportunity to be their student.” 

Congratulations on all your success, Daniel. We can’t wait to see what your research means for our future. To infinity and beyond #theNEISDway.

Big or small, everyone has a story to tell. Visit neisd.net/tellyourstory to share yours with us #theNEISDway