For the 20 kindergartners in Room B120 at Menchaca Elementary, sitting criss-cross applesauce on the floor as they listen to their teacher, it’s just another day of learning. What they don’t know is that, four and a half years ago, on May 4, 2019, the teacher in this room, Haley Piotorski, was in their exact position-learning to read and write.
Or more accurately, relearning.
On May 4, 2019, at the age of 31 Haley suffered a massive stroke which left her unable to walk, talk, and read. On this day her role changed from teacher to student.
Haley began speech therapy with Austin Speech Labs in August of 2019, where she spent three hours a day, five days a week, relearning to read and write letter by letter, and word by word.
Haley’s stroke left permanent effects on her, and it makes day-to-day things complicated and difficult.
“My stroke affects me every second of every minute from tying my shoes to typing on a computer. The list is endless.”
At last a breakthrough for Haley after four years of daily therapy, she was able to return to work and reunite with her students.
2022—Haley returned to the classroom as a part-time aide, while still continuing therapy and progressing her recovery.
2023—She worked full time as an aide. Dedicating herself to her work and students.
2024—Haley Piotroski was honored as an Austin ISD hero, and returned to the classroom full time as a Pre-K teacher.
After her stroke, Haley was able to connect with her students in a new way because of her journey.
She was able to understand their struggles and work with them through a new lens.
Teaching and learning letters, pronouns, and sentences, one day at a time.
Editor’s note: The digital media students wrote 300-word stories that emulated the feature profiles written by Brady Dennis for the St. Petersburg Times in the mid-2000s. Shield co-editor in chief Alice Scott prepared a master class on Dennis’ stories for the newspaper staff, and adviser Dave Winter was so impressed with the lesson that he changed his feature profile assignment based on what Scott taught the staff about Dennis’ stories. As a result, we have a collection of wonderful short profiles—including this moving profile of Menchaca Elementary kindergarten teacher Haley Piotorski—that are well-crafted, powerful and straight from the heart.
