Megan Navarro
BUDA — “It is pure magic when staff, families and students come together,” said Fabiola Sanchez, president of the McCormick Middle School Parent Teacher Student Association (PTSA), who was filled with pride that the group received a special designation amid the school’s 10th anniversary.
McCormick Middle School opened in August 2016 with a ribbon cutting ceremony that paid tribute to the school’s namesake, Dr. T.C. McCormick, who was a beloved figure in the local community. According to the school’s website, he served on the board of trustees, worked as an early champion to desegregate his medical practice and the Buda schools, delivered between 1,600 and 1,800 babies, served as mayor of Buda and more.
The school was founded with a mission to have a team of dedicated educators who will create a safe environment, where students are motivated to achieve success in the classroom, but also who will be empowered to be respectful and engaged learners, leading them to inspire excellence in their school and community.
This mission continues with the campus’s PTSA, which was recently recognized as a National PTA School of Excellence earlier this summer. McCormick was one of 330 schools nationwide, and the only one in Hays CISD, to earn this designation.
“While PTSA spearheaded the application, the National PTA School of Excellence recognition truly reflects our staff’s work. We conducted fall surveys to identify areas for growth, developed an action plan and followed up with a spring survey to measure progress,” Sanchez explained. “The survey, aligned to National PTA standards, focused on families’ perspectives on school community and communication. What we found is what we already knew: our school is amazing. PTSA simply amplified the great work happening every day and helped connect families more closely to campus life.”
The award also came in during the school’s 10th year of operation, which is deemed to be a reflection of the decade of dedication that the school has shown. It also shapes the PTSA’s focus this year to build on the legacy and make resources for the school that outlive beyond where it’s at right now.
“That ongoing commitment eventually opened the doors for us to show up, support their efforts and grow this work together. We’re excited to be able to celebrate this milestone with our families, staff and Tiger community,” said Katherine Heeb, PTSA outreach chair.
Different from traditional Parent Teacher Associations (PTA), a PTSA offers memberships to students, along with parents, teachers and community members. The group at McCormick gives students ways to be involved in the community, give back to their school and have a voice in decisions made as much as possible.
“We give back to their student organizations, as well as their teachers, to really just support all the things that they are doing on-campus, whether that's providing supplies for different clubs or providing resources to the classrooms for the teachers, but ways that we also get our students involved, as well as through like when we have concessions for their sports games and stuff. They are able to be student volunteers, if they would like to,” Heeb shared. “Then, we've also done a lot of membership perks for the students, like we'll do free popcorn days. We've allowed the students to choose designs for a lot of the T-shirts and the merch and stuff that the PTSA will offer to the school community … For the spots that they can't advocate for or do things, that's where the teachers and parents come in to help support the students and their community.”
The numbers within the McCormick PTSA have continued to grow, setting the tone for student success. Sanchez shared that for the 2023-24 school year, there were 284, but that number increased the August of the following year with just over 500 and, now, early into the 2025-26 school year, they are already seeing nearly 450 members.
As public education faces challenges, especially when it comes to funding, the McCormick PTSA’s commitment is turning into tangible support for the students and staff. For example, Heeb explained, last year, the PTSA set aside approximately $3,000 of its own budget to go toward providing supplies to the school for clubs and this year, that number is jumping up to $10,000. Just a couple of weeks ago, there was an emergency need of composition notebooks on-campus for students to have a good start the first week of school, so the PTSA went to all of the H-E-B’s within a 20-mile radius and provided more than 2,000 to the school.
“PTAs are great partners in helping fill those gaps, especially for things that maybe the school can't or necessarily don’t have the extra funds for, especially for like extracurricular activities, and also bridging that gap for teachers, so they're not having to use personal funds for their classrooms,” she said.
The beauty about the PTSA, Heeb explained, is that it does not take any special requirements to serve. Whether someone wants to give $10 to be a member or they want to volunteer to help with the concessions at a football game, they are welcome to in whatever capacity they feel they can.
“It really requires nothing other than just being willing to show up and be part of the school community in some way, shape or form,” Heeb said. “You don't have to be a parent to be part of the PTA. You don't even have to be a student or family member. You can be a community member and still want to invest in the local schools that are in your backyard.”
In honor of the designation and the campus’ 10-year anniversary, the McCormick Middle School PTSA will be hosting a ribbon cutting with the Greater Buda Chamber of Commerce from 5-7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, at the school.
To learn more about and how to get involved in the PTSA, visit www.mmsptsa.com.
