(FORT BEND ISD) – More than 400 community members, parents, students, staff and district leaders attended the dedication of Fort Bend ISD’s Alyssa Ferguson Elementary School at the Sienna campus on Sunday, Oct. 15.
Ferguson Elementary is the only campus in FBISD named for a child. Alyssa Ferguson attended Baines Middle School and Ridge Point High School. She passed away at the age of 15 in 2017 from a brain tumor. Despite the brevity of her years, she left a long and enduring legacy of generosity, kindness and caring.
The most touching moments of the dedication ceremony occurred when district leaders and Alyssa’s parents took the stage to recount how her kind and giving nature was evident from a young age.
“Alyssa wanted to be a teacher,” her father Scott Ferguson said, “and while she never got to do that, she now gets to teach every child that comes through the doors of this beautiful school for decades to come.”
As a student, Alyssa organized fundraisers and was a one-person homework helpline for her classmates. As a young child, she would ask her parents if a homeless person she spotted on the street could come live with them in an extra room.
“Symbolic of her dedication to helping others, for her last birthday Alyssa arranged a scavenger hunt around the neighborhood to collect food for the Food Bank and Second Mile Mission,” FBISD Board President Judy Dae said. “As her Ridge Point friends pushed her wheelchair, together they collected food from the community to help those in need.”
When the Make-A-Wish Foundation asked Alyssa what they could give her, the gift she selected surprised the group.
“She said she wanted a water well to be built in a village in Zimbabwe,” FBISD Superintendent Dr. Christie Whitbeck said. “She wanted something that would make a lasting impact on people halfway around the world.”
Because Alyssa loved the teaching profession, the well was built next to a school. Since then, several more wells have been constructed abroad. At the FBISD campus that bears her name, giant water retention barrels are in place in her honor.
“The mascot for Ferguson Elementary School is the firefly because they are small, yet provide a beautiful light -like Alyssa did,” Principal Carla Patton said.
Alyssa’s mother wanted the audience to know that her daughter possessed an extraordinary spirit but was also “a real person.”
“She loved Chick-fil-A,” Sandy Ferguson said, generating laughter from the crowd as she stood on stage with her husband and Alyssa’s younger sister Jenna. “She loved Jesus. She loved books. She loved all things Disney -especially Goofy. She loved board games. She loved 80s music and above all else, she loved chips and queso. She loved her sister Jenna and Jenna loved her, well most of the time they loved each other.”
Missouri City Mayor Robin J. Elackatt presented the family with a certificate and proclaimed it Alyssa Ferguson Day in the city.
Alyssa Ferguson Elementary School is located at 1300 Heritage Park Drive in Missouri City’s Sienna community.
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