What happens when a school district invests not only in what students learn, but also in the people, experiences and opportunities that help them discover who they can become? Sometimes, they come back.
For one longtime Spring Branch ISD (SBISD) staff member, Katie Redd, the SBISD experience has come full circle. She first entered the district as a fourth grader at Spring Shadows Elementary (SSE). She later attended Cornerstone Academy (CSA) and Spring Woods High School (SWH), where teachers and mentors helped shape her path.
Today, Redd is a Community Engagement Coordinator helping lead programs for the same school district that invested in her.
And now, she is choosing SBISD for her own son. Her journey is a reflection of what’s possible here and why, for 80 years, people have remained at the heart of the SBISD experience.
Great people can change the trajectory of a life
Ask Redd what she remembers most about being an SBISD student, and her answer is not a building, class or test score. It is a teacher.
Mark Plunkett was her sixth-grade English teacher at CSA. His impact continued long after she left his classroom.
“He continued to mentor and support me through middle school and the challenges that come with that, including the loss of a dear friend,” Redd said. “I know he’s positively impacted hundreds of students beyond just me.”
That relationship speaks to something fundamental about the SBISD experience: Great teachers do more than teach content. They see students, recognize potential and help young people develop the confidence, character and skills to move forward.
Opportunities that open doors
Another influential person entered her life while she was a student at SWH: Linda Buchman, now SBISD's associate superintendent of communications and community engagement.
Buchman served as Redd's Collegiate Challenge mentor, providing another connection to the people and programs designed to help students see possibilities beyond high school. Years later, that relationship would open another door.
While in college in 2014, she returned to SBISD as a temporary employee. After graduating, she came back full time in 2017 in a program and administrative support role.
In 2019, she became a Community Engagement Specialist, taking on responsibility for programs of her own. In 2023, she advanced again, this time to Community Engagement Coordinator.
“I did not study education,” she said. “I had no idea that careers outside of being a teacher really existed in education, but there are so many opportunities. We need professionals from all sectors to ensure our employees and students can learn and work with the best of the best.”
Redd's career also gives her a unique perspective on the programs SBISD provides.
“The coolest thing about my job is managing programs I benefited from as a student and creating programs that I wish I had,” she said.
A sustained commitment to student success Redd's story spans more than one generation, but the commitment behind it remains consistent.
For more than a decade, SBISD's T-2-4 vision has provided a clear direction: prepare Every Child for success beyond graduation.
That long-term focus is reflected in the district's continued emphasis on literacy and numeracy, the expansion of career and technical education (CTE) opportunities and nationally recognized academics. Across multiple measures of student success, SBISD has demonstrated steady growth while continuing to expand the experiences available to students.
Those investments matter because no two students discover their futures in exactly the same way. For one student, possibility may begin with a teacher who recognizes potential. For another, it may be an advanced academic course, a mentor, a CTE program, an internship or an opportunity to develop a skill they did not know they had.
The goal is bigger than any one program. It is creating an educational experience in which students have access to the people, programs and experiences that allow them to explore what’s possible and prepare for what comes next.
Choosing SBISD again
As SBISD celebrates 80 years of serving the Spring Branch community, perhaps one of the strongest measures of that work can be found in the people who choose to come back.
“I have extremely fond memories of growing up in Spring Branch,” Redd said. “So much so that I came back to work here and am now choosing to raise my son here.”
She sees a district continuing to evolve, with new facilities and expanded opportunities, without losing sight of its core purpose.
“SBISD continues to focus on the important things when it comes to student growth and learning,” she said. “I look forward to continuing to grow my career here and seeing my son grow through the system.”
Redd's story began as an SBISD student. It continued because educators and mentors invested in her potential. Today, she is helping create those opportunities for the next generation.
“For me, the support from the community makes SBISD possible.”
Because when a community invests in its schools, the impact does not end at graduation.
It comes back.