Message From the Dean and P-TECH Consultant
A Message from the Dean of the Future Educators Academy
Welcome to our Future Educators Academy page! I am honored and incredibly excited to be the Dean of the Future Educators Academy in Waco ISD. Dr. Holecek and I have worked together for several years, and it is a joy to come alongside her to continue building this program in order to see our own amazing students return to us as educators.
As I enter my 29th year in education, I have experience as a high school English teacher, a librarian, central office positions serving as a coordinator for special programs and curriculum, and most recently, three years as the Associate Principal of University High School in Waco ISD.
We have doubled the number of students in our program from last year, which is very exciting. Our program is at South Waco Elementary, so this gives us the tremendous opportunity to work with mentor elementary teachers who come alongside the P-TECH staff to teach and prepare our students to be future educators.
In addition to the goals we have with our current students, we will take opportunities to inform and explain the amazing benefits of this program to parents and students entering middle school so that they can enter the Future Educators Academy in their 9th grade year ready to serve as future teachers!
My hope is to bring the variety of experiences I have had to the Future Educators Academy to support our teachers and students as we build the best P-TECH program in Texas!
Sincerely,
Beth Brabham, Ed.D
Dean of Future Educators Academy
A Message from the P-TECH Consultant
Greetings, My name is Dr. Christine Holecek and I am the former Dean of the Future Educators Academy. I am continuing my service to the Academy as a P-TECH Consultant, focusing on Work-Based Learning, Seminar Fridays, Website updates and Industry Based Certifications.
The Essential intent of the Waco ISD’s Future Educators Academy is to grow, employ and retain a diverse teacher workforce that supports student success. The students have many great opportunities at the Future Educators Academy. These benefits include:
- The opportunity to graduate with an Educator Aide 1 certification, college credit hours, and/or an Associate Degree at no cost to the student or parents/guardians
- Dual-credit courses mirror a college setting offered in partnership with McLennan Community College.
- Support teams are provided to help students throughout their studies.
- Organizational Skills on how to study, plan, take notes, and manage time are incorporated into all high school courses.
- Academic counseling to help students develop skills needed to be successful
- College and career advice to plan future career and education options and opportunities
- Work Based Learning opportunities beginning their 9th grade year
My passion is to help grow the education profession and have the ability to develop teacher leaders. In fact, over the years, I have had the opportunity to mentor teachers and help them grow into leadership roles. My career consists of working at McLennan Community College, Heart of Texas Workforce, Education Service Center Region 12, and Waco ISD. I wrote an article for the Association of Career and Technical Education (ACTE) in 2016 entitled Developing Teacher Leaders in CTE. My co-authors and I interviewed School District Leaders in our region to contribute their experiences to this article and we presented the findings at the National VISION Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.
I am excited that the culmination of my 30-year career in education helped impact Future Educators, to create teacher leaders even before they enter the profession. After retiring at the end of the 2022-2023 school year, I am happy to be returing as a consultant to the program. Think how successful these young men and women will be once they return to Waco ISD to begin their career in Education.
Sincerely,
Christine Holecek, Ed.D
P-TECH Consultant