Schulenburg’s Hannah Schulz

Hannah Schulz starts her teaching career in a classroom where she once sat as a student. Schulenburg I.S.D. hired Schulz as a social skills and behavior teacher in the elementary school. “This is really my dream job,” Schulz said. “You don’t get that too often. Yes, there’s a teacher shortage and you can be picky, but this is the role I wanted.”

Schulz’s family moved to Schulenburg when she was five years old. She attended Schulenburg Elementary and then St. Rose School before graduating from Schulenburg High in 2019. She went on to study special education at Texas A&M University. At St. Rose, Schulz was a classmate of Jack Hooper, the son of Chris and DeeAnn Hooper who died in 2011 and became the inspiration for the Turtle Wing Foundation. Jack was diagnosed with autism at the age of six, and his parents started Turtle Wing to help children with learning challenges.

“Jack had been in my class all through elementary school,” Schulz said. “Special education wasn’t a huge thing from what I can remember. In elementary school, I knew Jack was a little bit different, but I guess I didn’t know he had autism. When I look back at my years here, I really want to bring more inclusion here. I want to help kids understand that, yes, they are different, but they just need a little support. It’s not anything to be afraid of or something that makes school scarry. When people ask me why I chose special education, I always say Jack was a really big part of it.”

When she got to college, Schulz thought she wanted to major in ag journalism and communications. But she found her heart was not in it.

“At the time, I didn’t really think I was going to be a teacher,” she said. “I was open to it, but I wasn’t sure if that’s what I wanted to do.”

Schulz took a few education classes at TexasA&M and decided to enter their special ed program. Schulz said her favorite part about teaching is hearing from the students about how their day was.

“(While student-teaching), my favorite thing to do with the kids was to just hang out with them and listen to what happened to them in class,” she said. “Maybe they had a good time in class, or something funny that the teacher said. It’s not always academic, but more about building a connection.”

Outside of school, Schulz said she enjoys exercise and the outdoors. “I like anything outdoors. Cory, my fiance, keeps me outside all the time – fishing, hunting, camping, all of those things,” she said.