Holli Quebe overcame her own learning challenges during her school days, and is now helping Early Primary School students who are battling similar obstacles.
Quebe just completed her second year as a special ed teacher at Early Primary and began serving as an aide in 2018.
“Special ed is something that is on my heart and I don’t see it ever going away,” Quebe said. “I have a very long background in special ed. I was diagnosed with dyslexia in kindergarten and in second grade I was diagnosed with visual processing disorder, so I was in special ed my whole life. Dyslexia therapy is something you normally get in and get out of, but mine was so severe I never got out of dyslexia therapy. From kindergarten through 12th grade I went to a dyslexia therapist.”
Quebe reflected on some of the most difficult moments during her educational journey.
“I’ll never forget walking into ninth grade and them telling my mom that if I make it to a daycare worker to consider myself good, I’ve made it, I’ll be fine at that point, that would the level of success I would ever achieve and not to look above that for me,” Quebe said. “504 special ed was not something that was well known and my mom had to fight very hard for everything that I did. She actually went back to school when I was 8th grade, for special ed, and she is now a teacher as well. In 11th grade I tested out of special ed and my senior year was spent outside of special ed. But I knew what it felt like to sit in that seat and feel stupid and like you couldn’t do anything.”
In elementary school, Quebe met the teacher who would impact her path into education.
“My third grade teacher, Ms. Arredondo, my resource teacher, she came early every day and stayed late every day after school with me and I would not be a success story without her,” Quebe said.
After graduating from Port Neches-Groves High School, Quebe decided to attend Ranger College.
“The three colleges I was accepted to were ACU, Tarleton and Ranger, and Ranger was the furthest away from mom and dad,” she said with a laugh. “I met my husband there and we’ve been married 17 years this October, and we picked Early as the place to raise our kids.”
Regarding the role she now plays in the lives of students who may be struggling in the classroom, Quebe said, “I would like to think I have an impact, but I hope to make them feel better than I ever felt at school. I hope they love school and love to learn. Learning is something we do every day, even outside of school. The adventure of learning is something I hope to instill in my students. The kids, their personalities are so much fun and I know they can be successful if we just give them a chance.”
Quebe and her husband, Nathan, have two daughters – Isabella, who will be a sophomore and is in the band, theater and a member of the Early Belles; and Victoria, who will be in the eighth grade and is part of the band and wants to pursue theater as well.
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BrownwoodNews.com will highlight one Brown County educator per day in the month of July, based on nominations received on our Facebook page, for our Teacher Feature series.