Spring Branch ISD Featured News

For 18 years, Stratford High School (SHS) theater students have stood at the Playhouse exit doors holding black buckets to collect donations from departing audiences. This year, their generosity set a record.

More than $13,400 was raised during the run of Guys and Dolls, benefiting the Katherine Ferruzzo Legacy Foundation and its work supporting special education classrooms in Spring Branch ISD (SBISD).

Founded last year after heartbreaking circumstances, the foundation honors Katherine Ferruzzo’s dream of becoming a special education teacher. Katherine, a 2024 graduate of Memorial High School (MHS), died in the July 4, 2025, Texas Hill Country flooding while serving as a counselor at Camp Mystic.

At the end of each performance, lead actors Dash Leonard and Elyse Simmons shared Katherine’s story and invited audience members to give. Donations filled the black buckets at all seven performances, and a QR code in the program provided an online giving option.

A cause close to home

For many cast members, the campaign was deeply personal.

Leonard’s grandmother was a special education teacher.

“I know just how important this cause is,” he said. “I think the foundation is doing great things for our community, and I’m so happy we get to collaborate with them.”

Katherine had strong ties to Stratford. She participated in the school’s class for future teachers and completed special education practicum assignments at MHS and Frostwood Elementary School (FWE). Those connections made the foundation a natural choice for this year’s Black Bucket beneficiary.

Cast member Elizabeth Meadows also felt a strong connection.

“There are so many ties to Camp Mystic and the floods in our community,” she said. “Because Katherine attended Memorial, it made so much sense to choose her foundation. Shedding light on it and contributing to these donations is helping the healing process for me.”

Members of Katherine’s family attended one of the evening performances and later received the record-breaking donation during a check presentation in the Playhouse atrium.

Turning donations into impact

Andrea Ferruzzo, Katherine’s mother and co-founder of the foundation, said the funds will strengthen and expand classroom resources across SBISD.

Volunteers have already created dozens of laminated Errorless Learning Folders, which help students build fine motor skills, self-regulate and gain confidence. Commercial versions cost about $1,000 for a 10-pack and are often beyond campus budgets.

(Andrea Ferruzzo delivering Errorless Folders to students and SBISD staff.)

The goal now is to complete at least 800 folders for classrooms across the district.

The impact will stretch even further thanks to Alliance Reprographics, which donated laminating services for the kits.

The foundation also plans to purchase color printers for several special education classrooms next school year. Teachers rely heavily on visual supports, and color printing makes those materials more effective. Additional initiatives are underway to continue honoring Katherine’s legacy and her dream of becoming a special education teacher.

“Katherine would have loved the way this is shining a light on special education needs,” said Ferruzzo. “My hope is that because of Katherine, teachers feel valued and supported.”

Inspiring service

Simmons said she is proud the Playhouse tradition is making a difference.

“I have worked with children with special needs before, and they are such joys to be around,” she said. “I’m so happy to support a foundation that loves these kids as much as I do.”

What began 18 years ago as a simple theater tradition has become something more. This year, it became record-breaking generosity that will continue shaping lives long after the curtain closed.