Success Stories

Susanna Rutledge (MacAthur High School) graduated May 16th from University of Texas at Austin. She received a Bachelor’s Degree in business administration. Susanna was the recipient of the Loren & Hattie Belle Houtchens scholarship award in 2004.

Anne DeWitt (Irving High School) graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in marketing from the University of Texas at Austin on May 16th. Anne was the recipient of the Banking on America scholarship award in 2004.

Erin Lowman Smith, received the Woody Schober Music Scholarship from the Irving Schools Foundation in 2002. She attended J.O Schulze and Townley Elementary Schools, Lamar Middle School and graduated from Nimitz High School.

She graduated from the University of Kansas in May 2007 with a major in Music Education and a minor in performance on oboe. She plans on beginning her masters in oboe performance this fall along with teaching K-5 music in Kansas City. She also teaches oboe at Ottawa University in Ottawa, Kansas and is a member of the faculty wind ensemble at Ottawa University.

Erin served in the Army National Guard of Kansas as a member of the band.  She had the opportunity to play for Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter along with Prime Minister Tony Blair at the dedication of the Lincoln Center in Springfield, Illinois in 2005.

Ruthie Lobb, a 1999 graduate of Irving High School, received the Ralph and Joy Ellis Athletic Scholarship from the Irving Schools Foundation. A 3-year varsity letter winner in volleyball, she played in the state playoffs all 4 years at Irving High School. She served as President of the Student Council, was honored as the 1998 Homecoming Queen, Top Tigerette and was selected as the Christian Athlete of the Year for the State of Texas her senior year at Irving High. On a student council trip to Children’s Medical Center the spring of 1999, she realized she wanted to be a Child Life Specialist.

She received her Bachelor of Science degree from Baylor University in Waco in Family and Consumer Science with a major in Child Life in May 2003, and her Master of Arts in Community Counseling from Mary Hardin Baylor in Belton in August 2006.  She is a certified Child Life Specialist in the ICU at Children’s Medical Center Dallas after working 3 years in Child Life at Scott & White Hospital in Temple in the Emergency Department. She was the camp director for four years of Camp Sonrisa, a camp for children with mixed diagnoses from Scott & White Hospital.

In July 2007 she will marry Shane Davis, football and baseball coach and business teacher at Irving High School.

Wayne Rowe, a 2004 graduate of MacArthur High School, received the John Stipes Motivational Scholarship from the Irving Schools Foundation.

Wayne finished his Fall 2006 semester with a 3.8. He has enjoyed his freshman and sophomore years at SMU by being involved in activities such as president of his dorm’s hall council and treasurer for the SMU Chapter of the National Association of Black Accountants.  His academic success at the SMU Cox School of Business has not gone unrecognized.  Wayne is even listed as one of their success stories! http://www.cox.smu.edu/aboutcox/success/wayne_rowe

Wayne has continued his involvement as a Lead Mentor in the Youth Achievement Foundation.  Wayne says, “I am now realizing the immeasurable value of an SMU education.  None of this could be possible without the support of the Irving Schools Foundation and knowing that many in the Irving community support my educational endeavors.” 

Marissa Byars, a 2002 graduate of Irving High School, received the John Stipes Motivational Scholarship from the Irving Schools Foundation.

When you meet Marissa, you first notice her wonderful smile and within a few minutes you realize this is a very special young woman.  Marissa will graduate from Texas A&M University College Station Class of 2007 with a Bachelor of Science degree and is a member of the Class of 2011 at the Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine.  She will spend two years studying basic medical sciences and clinical skills in College Station and then will receive extensive training at the Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, Texas.  Scott & White is ranked among the top 15 major teaching hospitals in the nation.

“I hope to continue on to a residency in pediatrics.  I will study to become a physician who embodies everything that I believe makes a philosophically sound doctor,” says Marissa. “I want to provide affordable health care to patients who feel that a doctor’s care is out of reach.  I hope to be a healer who holds knowledge and humanity in the utmost respect.”