Madison HS alumna makes a living out of giving back

In this week’s I am HISD, which features district students, graduates, employees, and other team members, Manager of Grant Development (and Madison HS alumna) Annetra Piper talks about how she went from the classroom to the central office, why she feels called to give back to the community, and what’s next for her professionally.

You’ve been with the district now for three decades. Have you always worked in Grant Development?

No. When I first came to the district in 1983, I was a history teacher at Dowling Middle School. But I’ve always been interested in doing extra things for kids, so I started off having a Saturday program called “Youth at Risk.” Even with that name, the kids joined anyway. My assistant superintendent at the time asked me how much we were being paid to run it, and when I told him we weren’t, he asked me why we were doing it. And I said, “Because it’s needed.”

A couple of years later, I became the 21^st Century Community Learning Center coordinator at E. O. Smith Education Center, which involved reaching out to the community and working with kids. When that program ended, I moved to Long Middle School as their 21^st Century coordinator. 

So how did you end up in Grant Development?

When I was at Long, I met Ada Cooper, the former manager of the department, and she knew my work and how much I liked it, so she asked me to come over here. She left me as the acting manager in 2004, and the rest, as they say, is history.

That means you’ve been in your current position for about a decade now. How much money would you say you’ve brought in over that time to support district programs? And how much does your department bring in each year?

In conjunction with the people who own the programs (such as the Office of School Choice), I would say about $500 million over the past 10 years. I love it when people know what they want to do and how they want their programs to look. It makes the work so easy. Currently, we bring in about $80 million a year on average, but when I first started out, it was about $35 million a year.

What’s your favorite part of your job?

Winning! I have a real competitive streak, and I enjoy the creativity. We are allowed to be very creative as we write, and we have to listen to the people we’re working with and research creative ideas out there to see if they’re a good match for us, then tweak them to be the most beneficial to our kids.

Why is providing opportunities to young people so important to you?

I am a Madison graduate, and before that, I was a student at Dowling, where I first taught. I always knew I wanted to give back to the community, so I went straight back there when I became a teacher, because I knew there was a need. My motto is that I want to make the lives of parents, students, teachers, and administrators better every day. That’s what I’m here to do.

Any highlights from the last 30 years that you’d like to share?

I’ll never forget receiving my first paycheck when I was a teacher. We were hardly paid anything at the time, but to me, it was huge. One of my former teachers came by my room that day and patted me on my shoulder. She said, “It will get better.” And I thought to myself, “What do you mean? This is great! I’m getting paid to do something I love!” I was so excited.

Which grants have been the most meaningful to you?

The first one is the 21st Century Community Learning Center, mainly because I was a 21st Century CLC coordinator for several years and I “get it” when it comes to what is necessary for additional support for children. This grant exposes children to so many things that they might not have an opportunity to experience, especially children in poverty. As a district, we have won seven out of the eight cycles that have been awarded. Cycles three through eight have been written since I have been here.

My second favorite grant to win is the Smaller Learning Communities grant. The purpose of this grant was to personalize learning for kids by placing them in career academies that allowed them to be known well by a group of teachers and other adults who cared about them. We won several of them as well. This grant was very similar to the Linked Learning initiative that the district is rolling out soon. We are very excited about that in that it links academic college readiness skills to the careers that the children will eventually have.

What’s on the horizon for you?

Right now, I’m in the doctoral program at Texas A&M University, pursuing a degree in educational administration. I am very interested in the underachievement of African-American and other students of color. I want to see what research is out there to see what I can help solve. I am not ready to retire yet.