By Ruth Ann Ruiz
The Post Newspaper Features Editor
The lenses of her glasses have always been thick, and she was never homecoming queen nor was she a cheerleader. She doesn’t know she’s a beautiful woman and she doesn’t know she’s an A+ teacher.
“It’s not about me, it’s about the students, and I’m so proud of the kids most of them are in sixth grade,” Ricci Rodgers says while she bubbles over with excitement as she speaks of her students and the robotics teams she is guiding.
Under her guidance, four of her original five teams have progressed to VEX Worlds competition in Dallas.
She didn’t leave anyone behind. All her competing students are in Dallas hoping to bring back to Galveston County first place trophies. She incorporated the team members that didn’t advance into the other four teams.
This is her first year as a teacher at League City Intermediate in Clear Creek ISD but not her first year as a teacher.
“If you ask my dad, I’ve been teaching since I was little,” Rodgers shared. Her father was a teacher at La Marque High School and Ricci spent her first 25 years teaching in La Marque and Texas City.
Speaking with a sweet, soft, Southern accent, Ricci is in awe of her students and their accomplishments. Getting her to focus on herself is a challenge because her thoughts are on her students.
To compete, the students must keep logs and she proudly speaks of how much effort the students put into keeping their robotics’ logs. Teaching for her isn’t about sharing her knowledge, it’s about her and her students collectively gathering the knowledge.
When two students approach her with their idea for a solution, she quickly assesses the situation and shares some information with them. Rather than telling the students yes or no, she continues to explore the situation and guides them with questions till they can come to a decision of their own.
She spent many years as a school librarian in Texas City and served as the robotics coach. It was during the 2020-21 school year she made up her mind to go back to the classroom and was ready to teach second grade.
This past summer, she got a call asking her to teach in Clear Creek ISD. “But I had only worked with plastic robots, so I wasn’t sure I could work with metal robotics,” said Rodgers. She took the job and is quickly becoming a beloved addition at the school.
“I’ve been a robotics parent for five years, and I can honestly say, she stands out above all the robotics teachers,” said a parent. “She gives the students the tools and options to accomplish and equips them to do the engineering process by themselves. She doesn’t tell them what to do. She pushes the students to be better in a nondemanding way,” the parent continued to share.
“Ms. Rodgers is certainly a woman of faith and I believe it shows in her good works, she’s part of our son’s/grandson’s support team, she works very hard to be all inclusive plugging in the students where they fit best,” shared a grandfather, whose daughter was the victim of homicide in 2020 (the child’s grandparents are in the final stages of adopting their two grandchildren).
“She is totally dedicated to the kids. She is with them some days till 8:00 in the evening. She understands they have other commitments and works to accommodate them,” the grandfather continued.
Rici Rodgers graduated from La Marque High School in 1990. “I thought I wanted to be a veterinarian and was ready to start at Texas A&M in Galveston. Then she heard the call to be a teacher.
“I called the University of Houston-Clear Lake and registration had closed the day before. Those blessed women listened to me tell them all about changing my mind on becoming a veterinarian and they got me enrolled,” shared Ricci.
She holds a Bachelor of Science in education and a Master of Science in school library and information science.
Though she hasn’t seen the world as she once thought she would do, Rodgers is pleased with the world she is in. “I’m here with the people I love, doing what I love in Galveston County,” she said.
Rodgers has also served in the Army Reserve for eight years, specializing in Army watercraft, but don’t expect her to brag about being in the military. She was just glad to be able to be of service.
We at The Post Newspaper wish the students of Galveston County the best of luck in their robotics competition this week in Dallas!!!!
