In her 21 years at the Madison Elementary campus, Grace Roy has built plenty of routines. She’s got the parent check-ins at after school duty, her conversations with the first graders at lunch, and the students who just come by to chat — including the one who reminds her there are crispy tacos on Wednesdays.
And if that student doesn’t come by? You can bet she’s wondering why.
It’s all part of a day’s work for Roy, Madison’s counselor, who prides herself in her classroom guidance and planning special events and incentives for the students.
A product of San Antonio ISD, Roy attended Highlands High School before going on to Southwest Texas State University and Texas A&M Kingsville to complete her education. She’s spent all but one of her 28 years in education in the district, working five years at Whittier Middle School in Special Education before coming to Madison, which has held her heart for the last two decades.
“I’ve been here long enough where you had a student and now their children are here,” Roy said. “Our students are friendly, nice, and they like school. Behavior problems — we don’t have that. Students are in class learning and truly love coming to school. Teachers love teaching. They love the students.”
In her time at Madison, Roy has created and nurtured existing community partnerships, most notably with Christ Episcopal Church and St. Mary’s University, to bring additional opportunities and resources to the Madison community. She’s coordinated bike giveaways to students with perfect attendance —one year giving away more than 100 bicycles funded by the church and other donors. She also facilitates the Snak Pak 4 Kids program, delivering weekend food bundles to students sponsored by the church.
She fields requests for extra backpacks, glue sticks, and composition books — any supplies students might need to be successful.
“I just take care of everybody,” Roy said.
Of all the different aspects of her job, Roy enjoys being around the students — planning special events and doing classroom guidance.
“If I could do that all day every day, I would love it,” Roy said. “You’re appealing more to the social emotional part of the child. Academics is important, but if the social emotional piece is not right, the other stuff isn’t going to happen as easily.”
The topics of the guidance lessons are scheduled monthly, but Roy says they have room to add extra topics based on a needs assessment they conduct.
“Some of the topics we address have changed,” she said. “It’s always how to make friends and how to keep friends, but now students want to know how to get into college, or sometimes they want to know about abuse and neglect.”
She’s also had to help her students learn to coexist with the COVID-19 pandemic.
“My students miss family movies, family gatherings and playing with friends,” Roy said.
While there have been a lot of challenges brought on by the pandemic, Roy also sees the opportunities it has created.
“Because of COVID, people are staying at home more, so they are becoming more creative,” she said. “People who say ‘oh, I can’t draw,’ they’re drawing, they’re coloring, they’re making stuff.”
When she talks to the students, at lunch, at duty, in class, or just around the school, she always takes the time to learn what they are doing outside of school and can tailor her messages to those interests.
“Listening to students talk about what they do when they’re at home is always fun,” Roy said. “You try to make that home connection. If you’re a good citizen at school, what makes you a good citizen at home or in your community? When you can make that home/school connection, I think they get it.”