HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Allison Padron once sat in a classroom unable to understand the language. She is now a first-generation University of Houston freshman, preparing to become a bilingual teacher, turning her own struggle into a mission to help others.<\/p>\n
It’s a dream made possible in part by a scholarship from the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.<\/p>\n
“I never would have imagined that I’d be standing here as a Rodeo scholarship recipient,” Padron said.<\/p>\n
In her application letter, Padron, a graduate of Yes Prep-Northline, detailed the challenges she faced while in high school.<\/p>\n
“I wrote about me and my family dealing with my mom having postpartum depression. It was a really difficult time,” Padron shared with us. “I was dealing with taking care of my baby brother while balancing school work. It was a challenge, but I got through it.”<\/p>\n
Padron also shared that she didn’t know English growing up. She credits her teachers for making a big impact on her life.<\/p>\n
“I want to major in bilingual education because many of my teachers inspired me to become a teacher. Not only that, as someone who didn’t know English as my native language, I want to teach those younger generations that learning a new language will be beneficial for you.”<\/p>\n
Padron will be part of the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade, riding on the Rodeo’s scholarship float.<\/p>\n
Watch LIVE on ABC13 | SATURDAY, FEB. 28 at 10 A.M.<\/p>\n
The parade will again kick off from downtown Houston, with decorative floats, marching bands, wagons, trail riders and horses all stepping off for the parade on Walker St. at Bagby St.<\/p>\n
The parade will snake around to Travis St., Bell St., Louisiana St., and Lamar St. before finishing there at Bagby.<\/p>\n
Where’s the best place to watch?<\/p>\n
Be sure to arrive early downtown to secure a good spot.<\/p>\n
According to the rodeo, the best places to view the parade are on Louisiana, from Bell to Lamar, Lamar, and from Louisiana to Smith.<\/p>\n
Bagby and Walker streets, from Sabine Street to Bagby, will be off limits for viewing.<\/p>\n
Street closures<\/p>\n
Like with many parades downtown, you should expect streets to be closed that morning not only for the parade, but even earlier for the Rodeo Run, which begins at 8:30 a.m.<\/p>\n
A quick note about the Rodeo Run: It will run the entire parade route and can be seen on Allen Parkway from I-45 to Shepherd\/Kirby.<\/p>\n
Streets will reopen around 2 p.m. after all events have concluded.<\/p>\n
Tell me more about the parade<\/p>\n
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Parade is a tradition dating back to 1938, officially launching rodeo season in the nation’s fourth largest city.<\/p>\n
ABC13 began televising the Rodeo Parade in 1959, using three cameras to broadcast the sights and sounds of the celebration to viewers across southeast Texas.<\/p>\n
WATCH: ABC13’s first Rodeo Parade Broadcast<\/p>\n
In this news clip from 2014, ABC13 marked the Downtown Rodeo Parade’s 55th year by looking back at the first televised Rodeo Parade in 1959.<\/p>\n
We’ve been broadcasting and livestreaming the parade every year since, solidifying the long-term relationship between ABC13 and RODEOHOUSTON.<\/p>\n
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is the largest livestock exhibition and rodeo in the world.<\/p>\n
This year, the rodeo runs from March 2-22, 2026.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2026 KTRK-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Allison Padron once sat in a classroom unable to understand the language. She is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":181745,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[72815,72812,72814,289,56,58,72813,57,30496,15478,15136,4114],"class_list":{"0":"post-181744","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-72815","9":"tag-allison-padron","10":"tag-float","11":"tag-higher-education","12":"tag-houston","13":"tag-houston-headlines","14":"tag-houston-livestock-show-and-rodeo-parade","15":"tag-houston-news","16":"tag-houston-rodeo","17":"tag-parade","18":"tag-scholarship","19":"tag-teacher"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181744","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181744"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181744\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/181745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181744"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181744"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181744"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}