Mary Helen Andrade

Welcome Bexar County Academy Parents

I wanted to share my background of my BLESSED journey.  I have traveled to many places and experienced many cultures in my personal and professional life for the past 30 years.  I am lucky to say I have come full circle that brought me back to my birth place, San Antonio, TX.  My ethnicity is Hispanic, Mexican American, proud to be a San Antonian.  Returning back to San Antonio was a destiny that presented me to make some life challenging decisions.  With the passing of my beloved father, my mother wanted to remain here in her home I returned back to my youthful stumping grounds for the past 9 years. 

My last place of residence was ALABAMA....ROLL TIDE!!!!!!.  Alabama is where my life changed to make me an INDEPENDENT woman.  I made a commit in the 1998- 2003 to pursue my educational career.  So, I did, knowing my priceless gift, my daughter, Nicole was grounded. She followed her passionate educational path of working with ASD students for many years as a teacher/ behaviorist, she has her Master in Education (MEd) minor in Special Education and currently, she is working as a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA) for the State of Alabama in the behavior unit. I am so thankful and proud of my daughter, who followed in the similar footsteps of her mother in helping people/children. I graduated with an undergrad in Social Work (BSW) and pursued my Master degree (MS) in Counseling at the Jacksonville State University and followed up with my Education Specialist degree (EdS) in School Counseling from the University of Alabama. My professional background was working with families and children as a Social Worker, working with teenagers and adolescents in a short-term hospital as a clinical therapist, and for many years working part time with ASD students. I was always in the teaching mode of serving families and children.

Returning back to San Antonio, I worked at the State Hospital for 5 years which was a life learning experience and I needed to seek a job that had a Quality of Purpose.  With former educators in my family, they said "You would make a super teacher".   

Here I am as a Texas Board Certified Special Education Teacher with other certifications and pursuing more certifications. For the past 3 years, I have been exploring my new career as a teacher at Edgewood ISD and currently I have the pleasure to teach your children in my journey. My goal is to BE THE BEST TEACHER FOR ALL STUDENTS academically, socially and emotionally. There is a connection that serves a Quality of Purpose.  I have HIGH EXPECTATION for myself as an educator and also for the future SCHOLARS.