An Irving ISD alumna, Gwen Craig learned about the Irving Schools Foundation in 1986, just one year after the foundation was founded. She found the great opportunities of the foundation when she began working for Irving ISD.
Born in Pampa, Texas, Gwen moved to Irving her sophomore year. She graduated from Irving High School and would later earn her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of North Texas. Gwen entered the Irving ISD as a paraprofessional and later became a teacher.
Gwen was a teacher’s assistant for three years and a teacher for eight before becoming an elementary school counselor for nine years. She served as a trustee of the Irving Independent School District for three years.
She looks up to how much the foundation has grown and how many more possibilities are now available to students and teachers in the District. Despite knowing about the Irving Schools Foundation for a long time, Gwen became really involved in 2013 and has been a board member for eight years.
Her favorite thing about serving as a board member is the very mission of the foundation. She says, “My favorite thing about ISF is that we are always looking for ways to maximize educational opportunities for our students and our staff.” In efforts to pursue this mission, the foundation awards over 200+ scholarships to high school seniors preparing to go off to college. The recipients are recognized at the Breakfast with the Stars event. This is Gwen’s favorite event! Along with Breakfast with the Stars, Gwen loves to see the community involved in events such as the Legacy Gala.
Today, Gwen serves as the chair of the C2C (Community to Classroom) Store. The purpose of this ISF program is to provide teachers with free school and classroom supplies at the “store without a cash register.” Gwen began working at the store in 2017. When talking about teacher visitors, Gwen says, “It gives me such joy when I see the excitement they have that they don’t have to spend their money on student supplies.”
In light of a new school year, Gwen is most excited about welcoming teachers to the new C2C store. Through the pandemic, teachers had limited access to the store. The foundation took that time to relocate the store to a new location with more resources than ever before! Most importantly, Gwen is excited that “we will be able to offer more time for them to shop!”
We asked her why teachers should visit the C2C Store: “Teachers should come to the C2C Store and shop so they can get the supplies they need for their students and items for their classrooms. Teachers have always spent part of their paycheck to make sure students have supplies; we can help them keep more of their hard earned money.”
From the ISF staff, we thank and value Gwen greatly for all of her efforts and hard work at the C2C Store. We look forward to another year of amazing experiences for teachers!
To book an appointment at the C2C Store, please click here!
