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Cedar Hill High School Counselors Tamera Jenkins-Wade and Scipio McElroy helped create a permanent Social Emotional Learning (SEL) room on the CHHS campus.

It’s a significant part of their “Pathway to Success” program, which was big on ideas but in serious need of funds.

Then, on November 21, the Texas Trust Gives Foundation, in collaboration with the Cedar Hill ISD Education Foundation (CHEF), came to the rescue with a $10,000 grant to fuel the program into the 2025-2026 school year and beyond. 

“We were totally surprised when I came out and saw the check,” Jenkins-Wade said. “I thought ‘Oh My God, we got it.’ I ran and hugged Ms. McElroy.”

McElroy fought back tears while accepting the grant – which was one of just two $10,000 grants (the maximum amount possible) this year.

“When we applied, I told Ms. Jenkins-Wade that I want to go for the entire $10,000,” McElroy said. “We need all of it because we have things to accomplish.”

One of the items on their agenda is to continuously improve the SEL Room, where students can go when they’re having a challenging day or just to calm down.

“What we have in there is fine, but it can be better,” McElroy said. “We call it ‘the Calm Room’. Students can use breathing techniques, which is difficult to do in a large environment. They have beanbags to sit down and relax their minds. We want to be able to do more.”

Other items include college visits. The funds for that have largely gone away since the GEAR UP Program came to a conclusion in CHISD. Just visiting a fairly local university, such as University of North Texas, comes at a cost of $1,500.

McElroy said inviting guest speakers and addressing the troubling trend of unhealthy dating relationships among teens and young adults is another important part of the process.

Lastly, the CHISD Counseling Office would like to host a Job Fair.

“Education is the only profession where someone says ‘you changed my life’ and you say ‘OK, I’ll do this for the rest of my career’,” McElroy said.

Interestingly, Jenkins-Wade and McElroy grew up in the same East Texas town of Marshall. They didn’t know each other until they began CHISD colleagues, and their partnership has grown as they’ve worked to improve students’ lives.

“We held roundtable discussions, sent out needs assessments and worked with students, parents and staff to determine what would benefit them the most,” Jenkins-Wade said.