Yvette Reyna turns a passion for learning into a career supporting public schools

Yvette Reyna’s love of education began in elementary school.

“I had a teacher that I really looked up to,” she said. “There was so much excitement in the classroom, I would wake up eager to go to school. I loved that feeling.”

As an adult, that enthusiasm has become a calling.

A graduate of San Antonio College, Reyna has earned three degrees, taught at the university level and built a career supporting public schools.

Reyna is the executive director of both Boerne ISD Community Engagement and Boerne Education Foundation, two organizations that are devoted to supporting students, teachers and public schools in Boerne.

“I enjoy being able to be the biggest fan of our teachers and support staff that do so much for our schools,” she said. “I’m happy as the hype girl and doing as much for them as I can.”

Reyna came to SAC as a first-generation college student after graduating from Antonian College Preparatory High School in San Antonio. Her parents had both served in the military, and her father had a 45-year career as a mail carrier.

“I felt like I was an average high school student, but I became a great college student because I immersed myself in things I loved and was passionate about,” she said. 

She got hands-on experience in SAC’s radio-television-film program, going on air at the campus radio station, KSYM, and producing news stories for classes.

Reyna recalled the time that instructor Tiana Spivey (a “notable, amazing RTF teacher”), told students that sometimes, they needed to just grab the camera, go out and find a story.

Reyna took that advice to heart. With a classmate, she took a camera to a traveling carnival downtown to investigate safety protocols. She researched the story thoroughly, testing all the rides to see how safe they were.

After surviving unscathed, she interviewed a carnival worker.

 “What would you do if a child was injured in an accident?” Reyna asked him.

“I’d run as fast as I can,” he said.

“I had to turn that into a story - so obviously there were no safety protocols at the local carnival,” she said.

After SAC, Reyna transferred to University of the Incarnate Word, where she earned both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in communications.

Soon after graduating, Reyna took a job selling advertising for a local TV station. That led to her next role as a director of sales promotions and weekend television host at Fox 29, which provided an opportunity to use the skills she’d learned at SAC to conduct interviews in promotional segments.

One day she might be filmed taking off on a ride at Fiesta Texas, and the next day she’d interview the owner of a car dealership or restaurant.

“It was a ‘say yes to everything’ job,” she said.

After five years in television and following the birth of her second child, Reyna shifted her career to education. She became executive director of the nonprofit Judson Education Foundation, where she led fundraising efforts and forged community partnerships for Judson ISD.

After more than seven years in that role, Reyna became director of communications for Great Hearts Academies, a network of charter schools in Texas.

Event planning had always been a favorite part of her work, and she wanted to share her expertise with others. She began teaching workshops for nonprofit organizations through the San Antonio Area Foundation.

She then developed a college curriculum on event planning and pitched the idea to her alma mater, UIW. She created and taught the first course in event planning at the university, serving as an adjunct professor for five years.

During the first semester students learned the basics of event planning. In the second semester, they would apply those skills by creating a fundraising event for scholarships.

“They would come up with the theme, create graphics and a program, find entertainment,” she said. “Every year there would be a different style of event they would create from scratch to raise funds for scholarships for students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford school.”

When her family moved to the Hill Country, Reyna began working at the Boerne ISD, where she’s been since 2019. She focuses on fundraising and forging community partnerships to support students within the district.

For example, she recently secured a $25,000 in-kind donation to renovate a center that offers clothing and other necessities to students, while also housing a college and career center that helps students apply for scholarships and jobs.

For Reyna, educating Boerne residents on the district’s impact is a big part of her job.

“We have raised the bar as a school district and we’re just continuing to raise it every year,” she said. “But now we’re really telling the stories of what we’ve always done and why our students are successful, not only academically or athletically, but as great human beings.”

One initiative that Reyna helped develop with the district superintendent is the Boerne Community Leadership Academy, a five-session, half-day program that gives residents and business owners an inside look at district operations. Topics covered included finances, classroom learning, student services, safety and security.

Throughout her career, Reyna has applied lessons she learned at SAC, where she felt encouraged to explore and take risks.

“What I learned at SAC was a very ‘go for it’ attitude,” she said. “Be who you want to be. Dip your toes in the water. You might realize something isn’t for you, but to figure it out while you’re in college, with professors that support you, is so exciting.”

Looking ahead, she’s not done learning.

“I see so many great things happening with Alamo Colleges,” Reyna said. “I’m ready for them to have a doctorate plan, because I’m ready to go for it!”

–SAC–