Name of new elementary part of firefighter’s legacy
When an elementary school under construction in Sugar Land opens for the 2016-17 school year, it will already be close to enrollment capacity, a reflection of area growth. But for the 1,200 pupils expected to enter its halls, the campus will serve as a reminder of how education can change a life.
The Fort Bend Independent School District broke ground on its 47th elementary school July 15 and paid tribute to Anne McCormick Sullivan, for whom the school is named. A graduate of the school system, the 24-year-old was an upand-coming firefighter for the city of Houston when she died in a fire in 2013.
During a ceremony at the site of the new campus in the Riverstone subdivision, members of the Houston Fire Department’s Pipes and Drums and Honor Guard joined with members of the Stafford Volunteer Fire Department in honoring Sullivan.
She was a probationary firefighter with the Houston department’s Station No. 68 when she died May 31, 2013, along with three others battling a fire at a motel in southwest Houston. Sullivan also had spent a few years volunteering with the Stafford Volunteer Fire Department, which brought an engine renamed and emblazoned with Sullivan’s name to the groundbreaking.
Anne Sullivan was 3 years old when she was diagnosed with learning and speech disabilities. Her mother, Mary Sullivan, said the school system addressed her daughter’s individual needs. Anne Sullivan was in the top third of her class when she graduated Dulles High School.
“Had she not gotten that kind of help and positive reinforcement for learning all those years, she wouldn’t have been able to do what she was able to do,” Mary Sullivan said.
She isn’t quite sure where her daughter got the idea to become a firefighter since there wasn’t one in the family, which includes lawyers, accountants and doctors.
But Mary Sullivan said the family was excited and proud to have a civil servant in its midst.
“I think she wanted to be a Spice Girl in the fourth grade, but other than that, when she got to high school she wanted to be a firefighter,” she said. “That was it. There was no ‘Plan B.’ ”
Sullivan thinks firefighting was a natural fit for her daughter, who ran cross country all four years of high school. She said her daughter, who played soccer, loved the camaraderie of being on a team. Plus, although Mary said her daughter wasn’t the reckless type, she said Anne had no fear.
“She loved the excitement,” Sullivan said. “Any firefighter will tell you it is in their blood. It is what you love to do, and she found out very early on that is what she wanted to do.”
Fort Bend ISD announced April 1 that its 47th elementary school would be named Anne McCormick Sullivan Elementary. During the campus groundbreaking ceremony, Superintendent Charles Dupre said there wasn’t another individual for whom the school could have been named who would be more inspiring to pupils.
The school, 17828 Winding Waters Lane, is the first construction project from a $484 million bond approved by voters in 2014. Dupre said the school will be designed to enable pupils to collaborate and that the library will serve more as a learning commons than a traditional library.
“Specifically, we are attempting to provide a learning environment and resources that support the development of strong academic knowledge along with creativity, collaboration, critical thinking and other skills necessary in today’s workplace,” he said.
The campus will serve as a prototype for the district’s future elementary schools. Dupre said the district would test a new combination of technology resources including interactive projectors that no longer require the installation of special whiteboards. Also, pupils and teachers will have the use of tablets and other portable technologies. Desktop computers, Dupre added, may no longer be the best use of resources for pupils.
When Anne Sullivan Elementary opens for the start of the 2016-17 school year, enrollment is expected to be approximately 1,200. Many will come from Austin Parkway Elementary School. When the school opens, Dupre said, it will already be near capacity.
The district’s 2014 bond program is intended to address a growing elementary student population in Fort Bend ISD. The bond included funding for four new elementary schools.
A formal dedication ceremony will occur after the school opens. The campus will include photographs of Anne, along with a plaque featuring information about her life and why the campus is named for her, Dupre said.
Sullivan said she is excited that many youths will learn about her daughter’s life.
“It is going to be quite a large elementary school,” she noted.