{"id":398788,"date":"2026-08-05T23:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398788\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T23:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:48:18","slug":"strickling-scholarship-helps-texas-tech-teachers-build-first-classrooms-august-2026-texas-tech-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/398788\/","title":{"rendered":"Strickling Scholarship Helps Texas Tech Teachers Build First Classrooms | August 2026 | Texas Tech Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

A $1,000 scholarship for every senior in the Texas Tech College of Education transformed
\n what came next for three graduates and the students they now teach.<\/p>\n

\t\tCREATORS<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I was a kindergartner, and they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up,
\n my answer was, \u2018I want to be a teacher,\u2019\u201d said Braeley Krautsch, a 2023 graduate of
\n the College of Education<\/a> and first grade teacher at Lubbock-Cooper East.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole life it\u2019s never changed. Even now, it will never change,\u201d she continued<\/p>\n

This passion is common among students in Texas Tech University<\/a>\u2019s College of Education. Not every student knows at age 5 that they\u2019ll one day lead
\n a classroom, but somewhere in their studies, a determination takes root. It persists
\n despite what students often hear when they say they want to teach \u2014 phrases alumnae
\n Krautsch, Gabby Dagrosa and Katherine Kraatz each said they were told.<\/p>\n

Why would you want to do that? You\u2019re not going to make any money. Don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n

They did it anyway.<\/p>\n

Three years ago, Roxane and Ben Strickling set out to change what those students hear.
\n A former teacher herself, Roxane had seen the vital roles teachers played in their
\n communities and how they could uplift students in their schools.<\/p>\n

She had also heard the negative rhetoric that often surrounded the profession and
\n experienced firsthand the financial struggles many teachers face, particularly early
\n on in their careers.<\/p>\n

So, in 2023, Roxane and Ben established the Strickling Senior Leaders Scholarship Program<\/a> \u2014 a way of telling future teachers that someone believes in them. The program provides
\n a $1,000 scholarship to every senior in the College of Education.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know how hard I worked right before I student-taught and during my student teaching,\u201d
\n Roxane said at the time of the scholarship announcement<\/a>. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a great deal of money, and to make all those little Mickey Mouse
\n things you have to make and do your lesson plans, I just thought if we helped students
\n with a boost that it would help a lot. I know it would have helped me.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are in such hard times right now with teachers, and education is really a worrisome
\n thing. I think we are just hoping to make it easier for more teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

The timing matters. Seniors spend their final year completing TechTeach \u2014 a full year
\n of student teaching \u2014 then walk into a first classroom they\u2019re expected to furnish
\n themselves.<\/p>\n

The Strickling Senior Leaders Scholarship Program concluded its third year in August
\n 2026. It has reached more than 700 students.<\/p>\n

Krautsch, Dagrosa and Kraatz are three of them.<\/p>\n

Braeley Krautsch<\/p>\n

In Braeley Krautsch\u2019s family, teaching might be genetic.<\/p>\n

Her mother is a special education teacher in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and her aunt
\n was a first-grade teacher for many years before recently becoming an educational diagnostician.<\/p>\n

Krautsch started early, often skipping recess to stay inside and help her mother in
\n her classroom.<\/p>\n

She approached college the same way. Once she decided on Texas Tech, she was all in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took a tour of the Texas Tech College of Education, and all I could think was,
\n \u2018Oh my gosh, this place is like heaven,\u2019\u201d Krautsch said, eyes bright, smile beaming
\n ear to ear, Double T earrings swinging.<\/p>\n

Krautsch also had influential high school teachers and coaches who were alumni of
\n the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Texas Tech was a place where great educators were created,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Krautsch\u2019s real-life college experience was beyond even her high expectations.<\/p>\n

What set her experience apart, and what she believes sets Texas Tech\u2019s program apart,
\n are the personal relationships faculty, staff and students build with one another.
\n Despite the college\u2019s total undergraduate and graduate enrollment of nearly 2,200
\n students in her final year, each of her professors knew her by name.<\/p>\n

In fact, these relationships have continued beyond her time at Texas Tech. Krautsch
\n remains close friends with her TechTeach cohort leader, and professors still call
\n to check on her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you actually have those personal relationships with your professors, you get
\n a little bit of their heart for teaching,\u201d she said fondly. \u201cAnd I feel like it just
\n keeps building up. You get every little piece of information you learned, every single
\n personal relationship you\u2019ve built, and it just makes you want to teach more.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like every single professor I\u2019ve had gave a little piece of themselves to
\n me. And I feel like I\u2019m just made up of all the amazingness that they poured into
\n me.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her own TechTeach year, Krautsch began to see how the concepts she\u2019d learned
\n in class prepared her to run her own room. From developing literacy skills to teaching
\n students for whom English is a second language, she said the foundations she gained
\n at Texas Tech were instrumental to her confidence as a student teacher and remain
\n so today.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could go on and on for hours about how much TechTeach is the biggest blessing,\u201d
\n she said. \u201cAnd I know not just for me, but for everyone that walks through that program.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A\"TwoBraeley Krautsch during her TechTeach year.<\/p>\n

Halfway through her student teaching year, an invitation arrived: Come back to campus.
\n Sent to every senior in the college, it included few details beyond the date, time
\n and location and that they needed to be there.<\/p>\n

As Krautsch sat in the crowd with her TechTeach cohort, they chatted about what they
\n thought was happening, how their student teaching years were progressing and whether
\n they had any luck securing a job for the next year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were all so stressed,\u201d Krautsch said. \u201cYou\u2019re trying to find a job, you\u2019re trying
\n to do all the things, and you\u2019re worried about the financial part of it because you
\n know, teachers aren\u2019t making a whole lot of money. You know you\u2019re going to have to
\n fund your own classroom.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their conversation quieted as the event began. Byron Kennedy<\/a>, vice president for advancement, spoke. Then President Lawrence Schovanec<\/a>. Then Jesse Perez Mendez, the then-dean of the College of Education.<\/p>\n

Mendez delivered the news: Roxane and Ben Strickling had made a gift to the college,
\n and every senior in the room would receive a $1,000 scholarship.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when they told us, everyone started crying,\u201d Krautsch said. \u201cEveryone
\n behind me was crying. Everybody was just freaking out and so excited. I was just like,
\n \u2018I can\u2019t believe people are that generous and care so much about educators because
\n that\u2019s usually not what happens, ever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ABraeley with Ben Strickling at the Strickling Senior Leaders Scholarship announcement.<\/p>\n

With her scholarship, Krautsch turned a bare-bones classroom into a warm, welcoming
\n environment her students compare to \u201cCandy Land.\u201d From garage sales and Goodwill to
\n DIY and an Amazon wish list, she built a space where her students can learn and feel
\n calm and safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think (the Stricklings) really understand how much of a blessing they are
\n to Texas Tech and to every single person going into the teaching profession,\u201d Krautsch
\n said. \u201cThey\u2019re actually making such a huge impact on so many teachers. And the fact
\n that they\u2019ve impacted hundreds of classrooms is because they\u2019re giving money to create
\n that supportive environment for so many kids. So, it\u2019s not even just the teachers
\n they\u2019re affecting; it\u2019s pouring into all the students that are going into those classrooms
\n also.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gabby Dagrosa<\/p>\n

Gabby Dagrosa\u2019s life path has been less straightforward than Krautsch\u2019s.<\/p>\n

She had dreams of becoming a doctor like her father, a physician in the military.
\n As she worked through medical classes in high school, one thought kept crossing her
\n mind.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t really like this as much as I thought I would when I was a fifth grader,\u201d
\n she recalled, laughing.<\/p>\n

Considering a new career, Dagrosa thought about who had shaped her most.<\/p>\n

She thought of Frau Rothenbusch\u2014 her German tutor, second grade teacher and principal
\n while her father was stationed in Germany \u2014 who inspired Dagrosa as a teacher and
\n as a woman.<\/p>\n

She thought of Ms. Wahl, her sixth grade English teacher, who created a fun, competitive
\n environment and introduced her to books that would leave a lifelong imprint.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere wasn\u2019t a defining moment,\u201d Dagrosa said. \u201cIt was more so just knowing that
\n medicine wasn\u2019t it for me and looking at the consistency that had been in my life,
\n which was my teachers.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Choosing a school took her two tries.<\/p>\n

Dagrosa graduated from a 4,000-person high school in San Antonio, and she wanted to
\n go somewhere her classmates were not. As her fellow students dispersed to schools
\n across Texas, Dagrosa went to her first-choice university \u2014 which was not Texas Tech.<\/p>\n

She quickly discovered it wasn\u2019t right for her. She didn\u2019t fit in. She wasn\u2019t making
\n friends. She felt isolated.<\/p>\n

When fall break arrived in October, she didn\u2019t hesitate; she packed her bags and drove
\n the five-and-a-half hours to Lubbock. She was there to visit her boyfriend, a year
\n ahead of her at Texas Tech. But that Friday afternoon, on impulse, she went to the
\n College of Education and asked to speak to an advisor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI talked with Chris Corona<\/a>, and that is who I credit with getting me here. I cried in his office,\u201d Dagrosa said,
\n speaking frankly. \u201cHe sat me down and said, \u2018Tell me your story. Tell me what\u2019s going
\n on.\u2019 And I told him everything that had been happening. He never made me feel pressured
\n to come here. He was never trying to sell something.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Do what makes you happy and what makes you feel right.\u2019 I came here on
\n a whim, and now I never want to leave. Texas Tech was not my first choice, but it
\n became the best choice.\u201d<\/p>\n

From that point onward, Dagrosa lived by the phrase \u201cLubbock or leave it,\u201d immersing
\n herself in the community at Texas Tech and in the College of Education. She wanted
\n more than the college offered, and she told Alejandra Padgett, lead student success
\n specialist, as much. Lena Staton, J.C. Winchester (n\u00e9e Miller) and a few other students
\n had told Padgett the same.<\/p>\n

Padgett connected them. Within one afternoon in 2023, they laid out a vision, wrote
\n bylaws and founded Teaching Techsans<\/a>, a student organization dedicated to building relationships between future educators
\n and the Lubbock community.<\/p>\n

The first year was spent spreading the word about the student organization and encouraging
\n others to join, but once they got their feet under them, they ran. They created mentor-mentee
\n programming, developed volunteer opportunities at the Burkhart Center for Autism Education & Research<\/a> and local schools, and established college community events that have become traditions.<\/p>\n

\"Seven\"Four\"Four\"NineGabby Dargrosa and her fellow students at Teaching Techsan volunteer opportunities
\n and organization events.<\/p>\n

Dagrosa led Teaching Techsans as president in its second year. Under her, the group
\n earned nominations for the Overall Outstanding Event Award and the New Student Organization
\n of the Year Award from Student Involvement<\/a>. Recognizing her leadership, she received the College of Education\u2019s nomination for
\n the Texas Tech Parents Association<\/a> Student Academic Leadership Award in both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 academic years.
\n The provost chose her as the student representative on the college\u2019s dean\u2019s search
\n committee, and faculty selected her as the spring 2026 graduation banner bearer.<\/p>\n

Her time in the College of Education was marked by accolades. But ask about her classes,
\n and she talks about learning the history of education in School, Society, and Diversity
\n with Karen Spears<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ask about Teaching Techsans, and she talks about her mentees Candy and Rayna, about
\n building mums for students with learning disabilities, about the time Dean Kamau Oginga Siwatu<\/a> beat them all at a bowling event.<\/p>\n

Ask about student teaching, and she talks about her sixth grade reading and language
\n arts students at Laura Bush Middle School, and about her mentor teacher, Charmynee
\n Arnold.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe primary reason I\u2019m staying in Lubbock is community,\u201d Dagrosa said. \u201cI think my
\n whole time at the College of Education with the people and the relationships that
\n I\u2019ve built has shaped my desire to continue fostering meaningful relationships with
\n my students, with my peers and with other teachers.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned throughout my time in college: Yes, the grades are important, but it\u2019s
\n also important to take time and make people feel valued, spend time with people and
\n don\u2019t just do it to say that you did it; do it because you wanted to do it. The College
\n of Education has prepared me to be a great educator because of the curriculum, but
\n also because of the community and the way that I\u2019ve learned to navigate life and work
\n with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A\"A<\/p>\n

Starting in the fall, Dagrosa will continue teaching reading and language arts at
\n Laura Bush Middle School, moving to eighth grade. Like Krautsch, she will use her
\n Strickling Senior Leaders Scholarship to set up her classroom.<\/p>\n

The Stricklings’ gift was announced in the fall of Dagrosa\u2019s second year at Texas
\n Tech. Unlike Krautsch, she spent nearly three years knowing it was coming.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think that the Stricklings realize how meaningful it is to know that you\u2019re
\n supported coming out of college, but then also to know that someone has been cheering
\n you on since the day you stepped foot in the College of Education,\u201d Dagrosa said.
\n \u201cKnowing that that gift is waiting for you at the end of the finish line and knowing
\n that there is a purpose: you\u2019ve done it, now go build a classroom and put everything
\n that you\u2019ve learned into use so that you can be a successful educator. They are enabling
\n the next generation to do what we need to do in schools to make change and to keep
\n education alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katherine Kraatz<\/p>\n

Katherine Kraatz watched her mother teach for 30 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

From her point of view, her mother was always grading papers, always busy, always
\n stretched thin.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember specifically thinking I will never do that,\u201d Kraatz said, glancing back
\n at her own classroom on the Zoom screen behind her. \u201cBeing a teacher was the last
\n thing on my mind. I would\u2019ve rather done anything than teach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kraatz grew up in Minnesota, in a family where anything short of a four-year private
\n Christian university counted as failure. Her sister and brother had both gone to one.
\n Kraatz enrolled too.<\/p>\n

Before she was scheduled to start in the fall of 2020, she decided to spend the summer
\n in Texas, where there were fewer COVID-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n

By the end of the summer, Kraatz had made up her mind. She was staying in Texas.<\/p>\n

It cost her the spot in Minnesota, and a four-year university in Texas was already
\n out of reach. A difficult stretch in high school had left her with a GPA that wasn\u2019t
\n competitive for an out-of-state applicant, and she didn\u2019t know how to pay for it.<\/p>\n

Junior college was the only door open.<\/p>\n

She found an article that said good grades there would improve her odds of transferring
\n where she wanted, so in spring 2021 she enrolled at Tarrant County College, a public
\n community college in Fort Worth.<\/p>\n

She was making progress, but she wasn\u2019t sure toward what. She had enrolled in several
\n classes, and to Kraatz\u2019s surprise, her education class was the one she liked best.<\/p>\n

She was still unconvinced teaching was for her. That changed when her mother prompted
\n her to try substitute teaching.<\/p>\n

Kraatz substitute taught in Keller Independent School District for two years while
\n attending junior college, covering classes from kindergartners to seniors and everything
\n in between.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved substitute teaching,\u201d Kraatz said. \u201cI got to experience the learning environment,
\n the different cultures and different classrooms, being around the teachers, just seeing
\n education from behind the curtain.\u201d<\/p>\n

She knew she wanted to teach, but Tarrant County College didn\u2019t offer all the courses
\n she needed for her teaching certification. In her discussion groups, one name kept
\n coming up: Texas Tech. She started researching whether it had something that would
\n work for her.<\/p>\n

She had two children, a 1-year-old and a 2-year-old, and couldn\u2019t afford a four-year
\n university while caring for them. She was trying to leave a relationship she described
\n as unhealthy and unsafe. What she needed was a way to finish a degree without staying
\n where she was.<\/p>\n

Then she found the TechTeach Fast Track (2+1) model.<\/p>\n

The Fast Track model lets candidates finish their upper-level coursework and student
\n teaching in one calendar year, online, through a partner school district in their
\n region.<\/p>\n

The more Kraatz researched, the more she was certain this program was the path to
\n a better life for her and her children.<\/p>\n

She applied and was accepted. Because Fast Track placed candidates with partner districts
\n across the state, she could choose where \u2014 and she chose somewhere else. Her community
\n college grades earned her grants and scholarships, and the district where she student-taught
\n paid her a salary.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn a lot of ways, the TechTeach program saved my life,\u201d Kraatz said, \u201cbecause I don\u2019t
\n know where my kids and I would be without that program allowing me to relocate to
\n a different part of Texas. Every cent I earned went toward feeding my children, keeping
\n us alive and keeping us safe.\u201d<\/p>\n

The program was online, which she assumed would mean distance. It wasn\u2019t \u2014 she developed
\n close relationships with faculty and staff in the College of Education.<\/p>\n

Just two weeks into attending Texas Tech, Kraatz found out she was pregnant with her
\n third child. When she told her professors she would need to be out for doctor\u2019s appointments,
\n she expected a one-line acknowledgment: OK, sounds good.<\/p>\n

Instead, the replies came back as questions: How\u2019s the baby doing? How are you doing?
\n How can I support you?<\/p>\n

\u201cEven though I went through the College of Education mostly online, and I was separated
\n from campus, I still felt like I got to know the people; I still got the Texas Tech
\n experience,\u201d Kraatz said. \u201cIt\u2019s a family. It\u2019s a legacy. They care so much about education,
\n but not only education \u2014 the individual teachers that walk through their doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kraatz graduated with her bachelor\u2019s degree and teaching certification in 2025 and
\n is now a fourth grade reading teacher in Snyder Independent School District. She met
\n her now-husband, a fellow Texas Tech alumnus. They married at the club level of Texas
\n Tech\u2019s Galaxy Stadium, surrounded by family, friends and professors and staff from
\n the college.<\/p>\n

\"Texas\"AKatherine Kraatz celebrated her graduation and marriage in the same year.<\/p>\n

Kraatz credits the people who got her this far. Whether it was the professors who
\n checked in on her, those who pushed her to go the extra mile or the donors who gave
\n to scholarship programs, they are still impacting her today.<\/p>\n

This includes the Strickling Senior Leaders Scholarship. Kraatz used it to build what
\n she believes is the largest teacher library in Snyder ISD, a collection that ranges
\n from preschool and kindergarten reading levels to books she would read herself. She
\n also purchased whiteboards, markers, and engagement and sensory tools \u2014 all aimed
\n at literacy.<\/p>\n

\"A\"A(Left) Katherine\u2019s door decorations for her classroom in Snyder. (Right) Katherine
\n presenting in her classroom.<\/p>\n

Early returns are good. On MAP Assessments, a Student Growth Percentile (SGP) of 50
\n represents average growth over a school year.<\/p>\n

Kraatz\u2019s students had an average SGP of more than 70.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that has a lot to do with my push for literacy and access to books and the
\n love of reading I gave to my children (her students), and that came directly from
\n the Strickling scholarship,\u201d Kraatz said. \u201cThere is a lot of legacy backing you up
\n in the education world at Texas Tech, including the Strickling family, and it gives
\n you a sense of \u2018We have your back. We\u2019re here for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A $1,000 scholarship for every senior in the Texas Tech College of Education transformed what came next for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-398788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398788","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=398788"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/398788\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=398788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=398788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=398788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}