A Wylie ISD teacher is stepping out of the classroom and into a new role utilizing skills learned while working on a much different career path.

Windi Fuller, former English and Yearbook teacher at Cooper Junior high, was recently named executive director of the Wylie ISD Education Foundation.

The educator will lead the 20-year-old foundation formed to fund grants for teachers with the secondary purpose of providing scholarships to students.

“We have a wonderful community that is very generous with their donations,” Fuller said. “I want to continue to work on that path.”

As the driving force behind the foundation, Fuller’s primary focus is to raise funds for the organization, enrich programs and activities for students, support unique growth opportunities and innovate teaching ideas.

Fuller said she is excited to see the creative ideas that teachers come up with for grant proposals.

Before taking the position at the foundation, Fuller worked at Cooper Junior High School as an English and yearbook teacher for eight years.

Last year, she received a foundation grant which was used to purchase graphic novels for her classroom.

“It was exciting,” Fuller said. “I saw a huge difference in their reading skills and abilities.”

In addition to helping her students’ reading ability, Fuller said the students loved reading the graphic novels.

“You put a novel in front of them and they aren’t that excited,” Fuller said. “But graphic novels, they would read them front to back.”

For the full story, see the July 14 issue of The Sachse News.