HOUSTON – Northwest Community College's (NWCC) Sandi Lavallie was honoured recently at a community event marking International Women's Day. Lavallie, the Career & College Prep (CCP) coordinator and instructor at NWCC's Houston Campus, received a Recognition Award for an Honorable Woman of the Community.
Below is the letter/bio, written by Lavallie's colleague Dee McRae, which was read at the presentation by event organizer, Naomi Himech:
Inspirational Woman of Houston Recognition: Sandra Lavallie
Sandi Lavallie is a brilliant educator. She is deeply smart and able to grasp concepts on a variety of topics, teach herself almost anything and then take that and turn around and make it understandable for anyone who walks into her office. She teaches physics, accounting, real estate, computing, horse training, psychology, math, English, essay writing, you name it. If there is a course, available anywhere and you need support while you are taking it, Sandi will help you. She will teach herself the content if she does not know it already, and then teach you. She is a bit on the compulsive side, so when you put those together, you get a brilliant teacher thinking 24 hours a day of how best to connect Person A with Topic B and Person C. That is another aspect of her brilliance; she is the navigator for folks. She directs them along a path that includes courses and people and projects (that she dreams up) in a way that allows participants to get a wee glimpse of where their course work is taking them.
There is a joke at the campus that there is a path worn in the floor to her door. It is not a joke. There is a path worn to her door. People come, reluctantly at first, because they have heard she is a good teacher. Reluctantly, because these are folks who have not exactly had success with teachers and education. She wants to know their story. She figures out a eclectic mix of courses and bits of courses that work for them. She tries to figure out how they learn. She ends up learning about all kinds of other aspects of the person's life and when the inevitable meltdown happens, they walk that same path and sit in that same chair while she calls counselors, connects the person to needed services and generally takes care of their needs in the same creative way she takes care of their learning.
Not all students are successful. They leave. But in a week, a month, or a year or a few years, they are back on that path, visiting Sandi, ready to give it another go. They are welcomed like old friends and the process begins once more. The successful ones revisit that path as well. They come to say thanks. They come to say you changed my life. They come to say I have another thing I am pursuing. Will you help?
All the students, successful or not, come bearing gifts. Soup, bannock, cookies, candy, toys, cards, photos, books, artwork and more. They want to show her how much they appreciate what she has done for them. I could not count the number of people who would say that Sandi has changed their lives. And I know I see only part of the iceberg.
Sandi is an inspirational woman. She truly is an educator. She really changes lives. Oh, and on top of all that she joins a million committees, mentors every new instructor that steps foot on our campus and does all her paperwork in triplicate.
She is deserving of this recognition.
Dee McRae
Along with Himech, event co-organizers were Bev Lyons (Pleasant Valley Restaurant), Northern Society of Domestic Peace and NWCC. Congratulations, Sandi!
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