LifeChanger of the Year Nominee Profile

Dvawn Maza was nominated by a family member, Lou Ann Calvert.

For the past 17 years, Ms. Maza has taught at a Title 1 school.  For 16 of those years, she has taught reading and math to special education students at Shady Grove Elementary.  Over the course of these years, she has written, maintained and implemented IEPS. For three of these years, she has served as the Special Education Grade Level Chairperson.
 
Ms. Maza's dedication to the students of Shady Grove goes well beyond the classroom.  She is the 4-H leader, where she has worked with the students on various special projects, such as field trips to do canvas painting, trips to the local veteran’s home to deliver care packages, and trips to local farms and cotton gins.  She has also led the 4-H members in several charitable drives to donate supplies to the Veteran’s Home, Operation Christmas Child, and the NE Louisiana Food Bank.
 
Other organizations which Ms. Maza participates in are: 

• SBLC Coordinator:  Helping make decisions to improve student academics. 
• 504 Coordinator:  Screening students to qualify those for 504 services. 
• Healthy Communities Team Member:  Helping the school to provide healthy, nutritional food and physical health to the students. 
• Positive Behavior Team Member:  Helping to affect positive student behavior. 
• After School Tutor for reading and math:  Tutors struggling students. 
• Fundraising Committee:  Helps to raise funds for the school 
• Crisis Team Member:  Takes notes in the event of an emergency. 
• DIBELS Assessor:  Part of a team that conducts DIBELS testing 3x per year. 
• Roots Assessor:  Test students to find those to participate in the Success for All Program. 
• Success for All Wings Teacher:  Certified and teaches students at their function level. 
• Grant Writing: Ms. Maza wrote, applied for and received three grants for Shady Grove Elementary.  The grants include the Junior League, Whole Kids Foundation and Lowe’s Toolbox for education which allowed her students to implement a school garden.  This allows the students to have hands on experience. 

This may seem like a lot of responsibility - and it is - but Ms. Maza also contributes in other ways that often go unnoticed. She collects coats and other articles of clothing for students who may not be able to afford warm clothing during the winter months. She also gives her own funds quietly when she knows that an underprivileged student may not be able to afford a field trip.

"For Ms. Maza, teaching, caring for and helping students is not a job, it’s her calling," said Calvert. "She has done all of this while being a wife, mother to four children and three step-children, pianist at Emmanuel Baptist Church, chosen Most Valuable Parent for the 2017-2018 school year, PTO Member at East Ouachita Middle School, working at the Desiard Street Homeless Shelter, Pilot Club member and award winner, Moore, OK tornado clean up volunteer, Red Cross Volunteer, T-Ball Coach and finally, a Baseball Coach. If there is a LifeChanger in our community, it is most certainly Ms. Maza."

Comments (26)