Katherine Ferruzzo was just 19 years old when her life was lost in the Texas Hill Country floods of July 2025.
Her summer job as a counselor at Camp Mystic reflected her passion for teaching. She planned to pursue a special education major at the University of Texas in the fall.
Through the Katherine Ferruzzo Legacy Foundation, this bright young woman’s dream will live on in classrooms across the state — including many in Highland Park ISD.
Katherine’s commitment to teaching began while working in a special education classroom in her hometown of Houston. There, she witnessed the dedication and challenges of teachers who serve students with special needs.
Katherine’s mother, Andrea Ferruzzo, has chosen to honor her daughter’s legacy by meeting those challenges.
“We miss her every single day,” Andrea said. “We’ve learned just how much time and effort special education teachers spend making very specific learning materials for their students, and continuing the work that Katherine started gives purpose to our pain.”
The Foundation’s first donation last fall focused on Spring Branch ISD in Houston. The group then set its sights on Highland Park, home of Katherine’s future college roommate, as well as several of her young campers. Cynthia Hollingshead, Director of Special Programs at Highland Park ISD, took the call.
“It’s absolutely amazing what Andrea is doing to carry on her daughter’s legacy,” Hollingshead said. “Along with Dr. Shorr Heathcote, our deputy superintendent, I talked to her and went through some ideas for things that we might want to do.”
After this brainstorming session, the donation that would most benefit HPISD special education teachers was clear: work folders.
“In our self-contained classrooms, teachers have something that they create called a ‘work folder’,” said Hollingshead. “You can’t order them online. They must be made from scratch. Science, the alphabet, you name it, we create a folder for it.”
She estimated that these assets, made individually for each student, take about one hour to complete. Multiply that by several folders per student across all Special Programs classrooms, and this gift had the power to return hundreds of hours to teachers, and in turn, to the students themselves.
Andrea mobilized an army of friends, family, and volunteers to do just that, then traveled with a team from the Katherine Ferruzzo Foundation to present the gift to HPISD at a special Giving Ceremony.
“Everyone was just so overwhelmed, so happy, so gracious,” said Hollingshead. “It was an unbelievable experience.”
This gift will keep on giving. As the school year moves forward, feedback will be provided to ensure that ongoing donations to HPISD can evolve with students’ ever-changing needs. The Foundation has also made similar donations to Alamo Heights ISD in San Antonio and Paris ISD, with plans to expand to five more districts in the near future.
“Her father and I would’ve helped Katherine,” Andrea said. “So, we’re trying to do the same for special education teachers across Texas in her name.”
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