Mica Magday

Brenda Barajas pictured outside the School of Education.

It takes a noble man to plant a seed for a tree that will someday give shade to people he may never meet. But luckily for Dr. Ricardo Rodriguez, he is able to see the fruit of his labor through graduating education major, Brenda Barajas. 

Every summer since 1992, chemistry professor and the Dean of Arts and Sciences Dr. Rodriguez has hosted Chem Camp at Texas Wesleyan—providing a venue for local elementary school students to have a hands-on experience in the chemistry lab for free. The idea stemmed from a gym session, when Rodriguez was talking with the then director of the Fort Worth Boys and Girls Club, Jose Cordova, about creating an experience for the youth in the club and in the Polytechnic area.  

“I always believe that students or children don’t have an opportunity to see the future,” Rodriguez said. “The dream is to have kids come to campus, see the possibilities and have them strive for that. And I think many kids like Brenda are students who have come to the program have benefited from that vision, that dream.” 

Barajas first attended Chem Camp in the third grade and fourth grade, being chosen as a staff leader in the fifth grade. As a staff leader, she led science experiments for the group she was assigned to and assisted the instructors in understanding the concepts they were teaching. Since then, she has returned to Chem Camp every summer as a staff leader. 

“They noticed that I had it in me, that teamwork and perseverance of wanting to help [others],” she said. “That really solidified for me that I wanted to be a teacher.” 

Dr. Elizabeth Ward, one of Barajas’s education professors, was inspired by seeing firsthand the impact Chem Camp had on the community, emphasizing that this is the impact she and other teachers hope to have on their students.  

“Dr. Rodriguez has this vision of how to support the community and the importance of getting young children, especially underserved children, involved in stem opportunities when they’re young and excited about that,” Ward said. “And I think it is so cool that one of the students who got to [attend] Texas Wesleyan as a third grader has come back full circle—and not only full circle, but she’s going to go back and serve as a teacher in the very schools that need powerful, passionate, excited teachers.” 

Barajas expresses her excitement and passion for her future role as a kindergarten teacher, wanting to create a nurturing environment for her students. 

“Teachers do everything—we’re guidance counselors, we’re nurses, we’re that hug [they need],” Barajas said. “Sometimes the kids go home, and they don’t get that love, but we make sure we give them that love that they deserve. Being in the area that we are, we see a lot of students struggling with different things, but they come to school with a smile knowing that they are loved here.” 

Dr. Patsy Robles-Goodwin, the director of Bilingual Education, emphasized the empathy Barajas, who is the daughter of Mexican immigrants, possesses for both the students and the parents. 

“I think she’s going to be a very effective educator. But I also think that she’s gonna be able to identify with the cultures of her students, especially those that are recent or first generation, because she herself is. I think she’s able to really connect with the parents, which I think is crucial. She can identify with some of those situations that maybe other educators couldn’t.” 

As the eldest child of four, Barajas has also created that nurturing and empathetic environment within her family, guiding them through their schooling and lives.  

“Being a role model for them [her siblings] is important to me, and I think that I’ve really played that part because they all want to go to school,” she said, and then laughed saying, “I’ll help each of them work [one-on-one]. I’d be done with one, then I’d be like ‘who’s next!’”  

She also acts as a role model, accomplishing several “firsts” within her family—such as being the first in her family to graduate from high school and now college. Barajas is happy to fulfill her parents’ dream of gaining her degree while also fulfilling the dreams of future generations.  

“Something that’s really important in the world today is that children go into their classroom space and it feels like home,” Ward said. “Brenda will create that kind of classroom and community for her students regardless of what else is going on in their lives. In her classroom, they are loved, they are respected and that she is there to help them to be the best at whatever it is that they want to be.” 

Barajas has already begun the journey in her profession, earning her spot as a teacher’s assistant at Oaklawn Elementary from August 2023 to December 2024, teaching for the pre-k, kindergarten and first grade. In January, she transferred to D. McRae Elementary School, where she is currently an assistant kindergarten teacher. This position was highly sought-after by college students in the area, but Barajas was the finalist that was chosen.  

With a foot already in the door, Barajas exemplifies the impact that Dr. Rodriguez hopes to provide for students through Chem Camp, believing Barajas’s journey continues the work that he started. 

“I believe that we come into this world and should always strive to leave it in a better place,” Rodriguez said. “The only way we can do that is by never forgetting that someone gave us a hand up. If you have the possibility of providing [someone] an opportunity, then that’s what you should do. That’s the key— to help others as others have helped us.”