W O M E N ’ S H I ST O RY M O N T H B O N U S PAG E S
KILLEEN DAILY HERALD | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 19, 2025
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Harker Heights educator says 23-year career has been rewarding and a chance to make a difference BY JOHN CLARK HERALD CORRESPONDENT
HARKER HEIGHTS — Women like Amelia Earhart (first female to fly across the Atlantic Ocean), Katherine G. Johnson (mathematician who helped send the first men to the moon), Althea Gibson (first African American woman to play tennis at Wimbledon), and Sandra Day O’Connor (first woman appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court), have made enormous contributions to American history, but longtime Central Texas educator Keonna White says those kinds of accomplishments are not the only way to make a difference. “Everybody has access to making history,” said White, a Mississippi native who lives now in Harker Heights, and has worked 23 years in education as a teacher, principal, and administrator. “I think sometimes when we think about making history, we think about the big things, but I think it’s the small things that are equally important. You never really know the people that you influence; the people that you touch. “Many of my students come back to me and they remember things that I said to them or did for them, that made a difference in their lives.” Keonna was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and raised in Mississippi, where she graduated high school and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Southern Mississippi. Her first teaching job was in
Texas with the Temple Independent School District. “My cousin was stationed here with the military, and I was interested in leaving Mississippi for better opportunities,” she said. “I love Mississippi but I just wanted more opportunity. He was stationed at Fort Hood, and he said every year Killeen ISD hires 300 to 400 teachers. I applied in Temple, Killeen, Copperas Cove, and Temple called me first. I was hired over the phone.” That was in 2002 and since then, Keonna has risen through the ranks from classroom teacher to assistant principal, then principal, and now she works as executive director for professional development and curriculum, and principal supervisor for six campuses in the Waco Independent School District. That means a 50-plus mile commute every day, but Keonna says the drive is not too bad. “I’ve been driving to Waco since 2017,” she said. “I was working at Region XII Service Center. It’s OK. I take phone calls or listen to audio books, so it passes by fairly quickly, unless it’s raining or there’s a car accident, but I try not to schedule any meetings before 8:30.” After she moved to Central Texas, Keonna earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in education. She also has taught at Temple College, Baylor University, and plans to teach a summer class at the University of Mary HardinPLEASE SEE EDUCATOR, 3
COURTESY PHOTO
Keonna White came to Central Texas 23 years ago to take a teaching job in Temple and has worked at schools and colleges throughout the region.