Remarkable Women: Retired educator Pat Heafy continues to dedicate time to helping students grow
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – Pat Heafy believes that mistakes are just blessings in disguise. She prides herself on teaching students that challenges are something to embrace, not shy away from.
A retired educator of 34 years, Pat has always loved working with children and helping them hone in on their strengths, empower them, and uplift them.
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“As an educator, I saw that need through observations that I made in the classroom or in my role as a reading interventionist or in my role as a literacy coach,” said Heafy. “So, as I was winding down after a long career in education, I thought, ‘What’s next?’ I realized that maybe the next step was to think about how I could give back with those talents that I had accrued in those 30-plus years in a career in education.”
As a result of her passion for teaching, Pat Heafy created Growing Resiliency, a program dedicated to providing students with targeted tutoring based on their needs, where her team of educators goes to local primary and elementary schools to provide that extended learning.
“It started because of a need. The mission of Growing Resiliency is to help grow literacy and resilience in children,” she explained. “44% of the 3rd graders in Brown County, 37% of 3rd graders in the State of Wisconsin scored proficient on the last state exam in reading.”
Seeing statistics that show a literacy gap continues to exist in the world motivates Heafy to keep pushing students to look past those barriers and want to succeed, which is exactly how she defines resilience.
“It means to be able to bounce back from those challenges. It means taking advantage of our inner control,” said Heafy. “If we’re able to see those challenges as a way to grow if we’re able to see failures and mistakes as something that we can learn from, then that will help them realize they can be the protagonist in their own life, and they will be in charge of their own success.”
She explained that helping young students understand that they are learning and growing every day when they may not even realize it is vital because it’s one step closer to tackling the challenge of increasing the literacy rate.
“We would really target that area of literacy and that area of resilience to help close that achievement gap and offer tutoring services and high-impact tutoring services to children who might not have access to that type of support,” she said.
Growing Resiliency is not just a stand-alone tutoring program; one of the unique things about the nonprofit is that even the tutors have tutors.
“Our tutor coaches work alongside the tutors and offer them support. The tutor coaches are all retired educators with a background in literacy and a degree in education, so they are a thinking partner for them, and they problem-solve together,” explained Heafy. “The vast majority of the tutors are education majors, so no matter what their focus is, they gain experience that will hopefully help them in the classroom and help them become more resilient as future educators.”
Growing Resiliency focuses on elementary and primary students, with the majority being primary students.
In the few years, Growing Resiliency has existed, it has grown in its own way, and everyone involved in the program has seen the massive impact it has had on the lives of the children it works with.
“When I see the tutors working with the students and see the interactions that they’re having in the area of literacy and also in that area of resilience too, it means everything,” she said. “Anytime you’ve been in a situation where you sit back and you think ‘this is good,’ that’s what the experience is like for the students, and the tutors too.”
An Education major at St. Norbert College, Megan Salentine has worked closely with Growing Resiliency due to the partnership between the College and the nonprofit.
Salentine acted as one of the tutors and said her favorite part of her involvement was being a support system for the kids.
“It’s been such a great experience for me as a future teacher to be cognizant of what I’m doing in the classroom and how it’s affecting the kiddo,” explained Salentine. “It has given us many tools as a future teacher: the way that we talk to the kiddos, the way that we encourage them, and the praise we provide.”
Growing Resiliency is unique in helping first-year education majors hone in on the skills that will be used throughout their teaching careers.
Salentine said working with so many students has opened her eyes in ways she never imagined, and she believes it will make her an even better educator.
“A lot of these kiddos come from awfully challenged homes, different backgrounds, various backgrounds, and then we’re able to step in as tutors and not just help them grow in their reading skills but also in their confidence and their ability to know that they can do this,” she said. “For that one-on-one, it’s huge to build a relationship and know that that student has a champion in you.”
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A remarkable woman dedicated to helping and sharing her knowledge with others, Pat Heafy continues to create a positive learning environment for the next generation of leaders despite the challenges that come with extended learning.
“I believe very strongly that we’re here for a purpose, and to be able to give back through the skills that we have and through that realization, that helps us to become more resilient too,” said Heafy. “And through growing resilient, it gives hope for the future, hope for humanity, for these future leaders who are the tutors and then for the students that they’re supporting who one day will become future leaders as well.”
