Immigrant’s passion to teach overcame barriers
As bullets and helicopters flew by outside her school in El Salvador decades ago, a young student named Tammy Verstrate found safety and a love for education behind classroom walls.
That passion has remained with Verstrate, 46, a kindergarten teacher at LaVace Stewart Elementary in Kemah. She recently won H-E-B’s Excellence in Education Leadership Award, which includes $10,000 for her and an additional $10,000 for her school.
Verstrate arrived at Stewart in 2008, where she started as a pre-kindergarten instructor after over a decade teaching in both El Salvador and the United States. Three years later, she helped Principal Britani Moses create a comprehensive bilingual program for the school.
“I want students to be proud of their roots and to be fully bilingual,” Verstrate said. “I want to give them the gift of a new language even though I understand how hard that can be.”
When Verstrate, who was raised during the Salvadorean Civil War, arrived in the United States in 1995, she struggled as an immigrant in an unfamiliar environment, pushing through school to be the first in her family to graduate from college. ‘Teacher with a heart’
Verstrate’s classroom walls are adorned with playful posters in both English and Spanish. Her kindergartners take class notes in both languages.
Sunny Hall, 6, is one of Verstrate’s students. After introducing herself in Spanish, she said excitedly, “We love Ms. Verstrate. I didn’t know any
Spanish before and now I can count to 100. She makes learning and practice really fun.”
Verstrate’s students can sing happy birthday in Portuguese and Japanese, too. On Mondays, they must speak Spanish after their lunch period — something they’ve been taught to do since the very first day of school.
“They make me feel so proud,” Verstrate said with a beaming smile.
She noted that research suggests it takes seven years to master a language. From her students’ rate of progress, she expects them to be fully bilingual by the fifth grade.
“You could see that Tammy was a teacher with heart immediately,” Moses said. “She has really high expectations but also sees the potential in all of our kids and is very compassionate.” ‘I could shine’
When Verstrate was growing up, her mother had to hide her brothers from school many times to protect them from being recruited into the country’s civil war. Verstrate remembers having to hide under desks, similar to during a school lockdown, except it was hardly a drill.
Still, it was here, at school, where Verstrate was most comfortable, where she said everything was wonderful because she could read books and forget about reality — one in which she lost neighbors and a cousin to the war.
Her first-grade teacher, Ms. Ruiz, made her feel safe and inspired her. Verstrate wanted to be like her and went home to play school with her four siblings and toys.
“She made me feel like I could shine,” Verstrate said.
Despite graduating high school with high honors, Verstrate felt she lacked purpose. Taking advantage of a friend’s offer, she accepted a substitute teaching position at a small private school, and the experience changed her life after just a week. She became determined to pursue teaching in college.
She didn’t finish college in El Salvador because she moved to the San Fernando Valley in California to join her family, which had moved while she was working and studying. She could read and write in English but still struggled with the language in conversation.
Despite this, she pursued a GED, opting to take and ultimately pass her exam in English.
She took another leap of faith moving to take a lowpaying job in a school in the Texas city of Cleveland, where most people spoke only English, including the principal, Jennifer Cooper.
Verstrate lived with Cooper to help make ends meet.
Verstrate worked with 2- and 3-year-olds teaching colors and numbers — continuing to get a firmer command of the language through her young students.
Cooper eventually offered her a job teaching first and second grades, a position where Verstrate was shocked to win a Walmart teacher of the year award at the school’s student banquet.
Seeking greater opportunity, she ventured to Houston with plans to attend the University of Houston-Clear Lake but learned that none of her college credits from El Salvador would transfer. She was 34. “I just went home and cried,” Verstrate said, “I couldn’t do it all over again.”
She ultimately opted for San Jacinto College for two years, before earning a teaching certification in early childhood through fourth grade from the University of Houston-Downtown.
Afterward, she wanted to go to teach at a duallanguage program at McWhirter Elementary School in the Clear Creek Independent School District, inspired by the opportunity to help students with something she had struggled with for so long—learning another language. She got a job at Stewart instead. Work draws notice
Last year, Verstrate was honored by the Stewart staff as campus teacher of the year and was nominated to be teacher of the year for the Clear Creek school district, although she didn’t win.
In November, Superintendent Greg Smith nominated her for the H-E-B award.
In February, he informed her that district officials were coming to her classroom to shoot a promotional video for the dual-language program. But what followed was a procession of people snapping pictures along with H-E-B’s mascot, H-E-Buddy, and a person carrying an oversized red check for $1,000.
“I lost it,” Verstrate said, “I started crying, I was so excited.”
She was off to San Antonio as one of five finalists in the leadership category, representing the Houston region, and was named a winner.
“It took me eight years to become a ‘real’ teacher,” she said, arching her fingers to signify quotation marks. “The H-E-B award is bigger than my wildest dream. It was overwhelming.”
She said the $10,000 earmarked for the school may go toward a playground patio or playground upgrades, perhaps new computers for the students. She said her students joked that the money would be best spent on a pet monkey for the class.
Verstrate, who lives with her husband, Douglas, said she hopes to become a dual-language education expert or literacy coach.
She said people having faith in and taking gambles on her made the difference in her life. Through her students, she said, she just tries to return the favor.