Amy O'Rourke of La Fe Preparatory School

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The Women's Fund recently talked to Amy O'Rourke about her plans, her impressions of El Paso and lessons she's learned in her impressive career.

Amy O'Rourke is the Administrator of the La Fe Preparatory School, which is impacting educational opportunities in the heart of downtown El Paso. Amy's innovative ideas and bold initiatives at La Fe Prep start with small classes for individual and personalized attention, and focus on a dual language immersion program that helps students to develop a personal pride for their city and its culture. La Fe Preparatory School has class one Saturday a month, during which students go on field trips or participate in community service projects. Every child has access to state-of-the-art technology, which parents can use as well. Parents are strongly encouraged to participate in all school activities so that the children see their parents as leaders, motivating them to succeed and also to be leaders. At this early age, students understand that they are capable of and expected to attend a four-year university.

Amy received her B.A. from Williams College in Massachusetts. She majored in Psychology and received a certificate of concentration in Spanish. Amy studied for a semester at the Universidad de Barcelona, focusing on Art History and Spanish Literature. After graduating from Williams, she moved to Guatemala City for a year to teach Kindergarten at the Colegio Americano de Guatemala. In August 2004, Amy returned to the Southwest to join her family in El Paso. She taught first and second grade at El Paso Country Day School. Amy began working at La Fe in June 2005. Later that year, she married native El Pasoan, Beto O’Rourke. They have a son, Ulysses and a daughter, Molly.
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What inspired you to open the La Fe Preparatory School?

To be honest, I was not the one who had the vision to open the school. For many years, the CEO of La Fe, Salvador Balcorta, had been passionate about opening a school to give children living in the Segundo Barrio a world class education. In 2005, Salvador took me on a tour of La Fe’s facilities and we began discussing the benefits of charter schools. After several weeks, he asked me to submit a plan for the development of a charter school at La Fe. Since that time, Salvador basically entrusted me with this wonderful opportunity to work on the opening and development of the school.

How is the school evolving?

The school’s educational design was developed by an advisory panel made up of 30 people from different sectors of the community. Based on people’s strengths and areas of interest, they participated in a committee that helped create the school’s plan for addressing academics, enrichment programs, technology, and finance. After several months of research and weekly meetings, the school’s plan was presented to the community and submitted to the Texas Education Agency. After a long, arduous process of getting it approved by the State Board of Education, the school opened in August 2007. We had hired an amazing Principal, Karina Schulte, our Special Education Coordinator, Cynthia Cano (who is now our Assistant Principal), and 6 extremely dedicated classroom teachers. I could not have asked for a better group of people to work with. Everyone was unbelievably dedicated to the mission of the school. That first year, we served 96 students in PK-1st grade. It was certainly a steep learning curve for everyone involved. We had to be constantly evaluating ourselves and be flexible to make changes if needed to best serve the students and families. Last year, we added one grade level, so we had 128 students in PK-2nd grade. I am always astonished by how much the students have progressed since coming to the school. The students have confidence, are proud of their hard work, and love school!

What are your future plans for La Fe Prep?

The La Fe Preparatory School is chartered to serve 224 students in PK-5th grade, so we will continue adding one grade level each year while still maintaining the fixed number of sixteen students per class so as not to disturb the success of small class settings. We would ultimately like to amend our charter to grown into a Middle and High School as well. Many of our parents have already approached us, demanding this growth.

What would your advice be for someone wanting to get started in education and teaching?

If you know you have an interest in children or teaching, become involved with kids as soon as possible. For example, I knew early on that I wanted to be a teacher or work in child-related non-profits; so in high school, I volunteered with Big Brothers Big Sisters, tutoring and teaching kids to swim and play tennis. I continued to volunteer in college by starting a Spanish after school program at the local elementary school. Working with kids is not for everyone, so the more exposure you have with kids the faster you find out whether it is really for you.

Who or what has influenced you the most?

There is not just one person in particular. During each phase of my life, people have pushed me to do the things that are important to me. In high school, my parents always had high expectations for all their kids. My older siblings played varsity sports, did well in school, got into great colleges, so my competitive side forced me to try to do the same. At Williams College, my professors and peers were very influential. In fact I still keep in touch with some of them today, seeking their guidance in my work at La Fe. Today, Salvador has been an amazing person to work for. He is an extraordinary visionary. He not only entrusted me with his dream by letting me take the reins of the school, he continues to guide and push me to always be finding ways to improve the school and expand the services we provide.

What passion has kept you motivated to continue in your work?

I feel very lucky to be a part of something that started from the ground up and truly has the potential to change the way people approach education. Our view on the charter school was always to be a pilot program that provided a non-traditional school setting that best fit the needs of the students in South El Paso. My motivation has been to experience such tremendous success that we serve as a model school for others who are seeking innovative reform strategies at their campus.

Where does your passion come from?

My past experiences and the strong belief that any child can succeed drive my passion. Volunteering for many years with disadvantaged children made me realize that more than anything, kids need love, affection, and for someone to believe in them.

How have you gained strength as a leader in the EP community through the lessons you have learned?

Developing and opening the charter school was a learning process for me. I didn’t have a complete understanding of the needs in South El Paso, and so I reached out to longtime El Paso community members to help guide me through the process of designing the school. This networking in the community opened doors to participate on the boards/committees of other organizations. These leadership opportunities exposed me to the many facets of civic engagement and organizational development. Not only was I learning about and contributing to other organizations, but I was always able to take strategies back to my responsibilities at La Fe.

What advice can you give to other women that will help them in their personal perspectives toward juggling the demands of career and family?

Juggling family and your career is something so personal and individual to each woman. I suffer from a guilty conscience, so I never feel like I give 100% to work or my family; however, for me personally, I need work as an outlet. I have tried to find a good balance and am very fortunate that La Fe has allowed me to work from home part-time and that I have a very supportive husband and family. I think I am a better mother for having time during the day to mentally/socially stimulate and challenge myself. I can return home eager to spend time with the kids, and then get back to work once they are asleep. I think each person needs to do what is best for their family, whether it is staying at home with their kids, working a 40+ hour week, or something in between.

What have been your personal values and guiding principles you have followed in your career?

In my career and in life in general, I realized at an early age that I needed to work hard to be successful. I never had the natural talent of my peers, but I understood that if I collaborated with other people and worked hard enough, I could produce a product that was just as good as anyone else's!

If you could single handedly change one thing for women in El Paso, what would it be?

That is a very tough question because there are a number of areas that I think are critically important in improving the quality of life for women in El Paso including: safe sex education and mentoring/counseling in high school. If I were to pick one thing though, I suppose I would want to improve access to high quality early childhood educational opportunities. There are many organizations that provide such wonderful services to families in terms of daycare and preschool, like the YWCA and HeadStart; however, there is never enough funding and therefore access to these services is limited.

Through your leadership, you have the opportunity to influence the direction others have taken. What can you share with us about the importance of mentoring other women for new leadership in El Paso?

I strongly believe in mentoring. Exposing young women firsthand to roles and positions of leadership in the community can really open a young person’s mind to begin exploring potential future career choices that they didn’t before know existed. When a young woman is able to shadow or work closely with another woman in a leadership role, they get a better sense of what skills are needed to be successful in that position. The experience can motivate the young woman to begin setting personal goals for themselves so that they too can become a leader.