The Power of Community: Wylie High Graduate’s Journey to the Skies

At 17 years old, former Wylie ISD student Amanda Steele sat in a parked van, tears streaming down her face, convinced her education was slipping away. Though she wasn’t living with her father, he still had legal control over her schooling, and he had just withdrawn her from Wylie High School as punishment. With no stable home and no way to return to class, Steele feared her dreams were over.

That night, sitting in the back of her 1995 Dodge Caravan, she made a decision: she wasn’t going to let anyone take her future away. By the next morning, she had written her way back into school and onto a path that would eventually lead her to the skies as a professional pilot.

Fighting for an Education

Steele’s teenage years were marked by instability. Abandoned by her mother at 14 and faced with a father battling substance abuse and mental illness, she entered high school without a place to call home. She bounced between friends’ couches, worked at Sonic to cover cheerleading expenses, and stayed up late doing homework in borrowed bedrooms.

“The two people who were supposed to love me didn’t,” Steele said. “I would cry myself to sleep; it wasn’t even about the fact that I was homeless, it was because the one thing a child needs is love, and I didn’t have that.”

When her father withdrew her from school during her junior year, Amanda decided to take her education into her own hands. On a Sunday evening, she wrote a letter to the Wylie ISD school board and superintendent, citing state law that allowed her to attend school without parental permission.

“I’m going to fight for my right to go to school,” she wrote.

By Monday, the registrar called, “Get up here, we’re re-enrolling you.”

The Power of Community

Steele’s determination was matched by the compassion of those around her. From freshman year until she graduated high school, Steele was surrounded by people who cared for her.

Her letter had a profound effect on former Wylie ISD School Board President Susan Shuler. She became a mentor and mother figure to Steele.

“Her senior year, she had never had a homecoming mum,” Shuler said. “Amanda came to my house and we made her one. When she was trying out for cheerleader, I went and waited for her. She said, ‘I didn’t think anybody would be here for me.’”

In those moments, when a parent would be present, Shuler stepped in to fill the void.

“She took pictures of me at different events since the moment she met me and made me a really sweet, beautiful scrapbook,” Steele recalled. “She poured into me for no reason other than it was the right thing to do.”

Shuler beams with pride when she reflects back on Steele’s experiences in high school.

“Watching her grow and succeed has been truly inspiring, and I admire the dedication and resilience she continues to show in everything she does,” Shuler said. “She has worked hard to carve out her own path, staying authentic while also pushing herself to new heights. Seeing her thrive not only makes me proud of who she is but also reminds me how powerful it is to stay true to yourself and your dreams. Amanda’s journey is something worth celebrating, and I couldn’t be happier to cheer her on every step of the way.”

WHS counselor Doug Fortenberry, who has since retired, and his wife, Charlotte, Amanda’s pre-AP geometry teacher, opened their home to Amanda during her sophomore year.

“We clicked instantly,” Steele said, noting that she often sought out his encouragement.

“I think the world of him,” she said. “He is one of the best people on the planet. I called him Uncle Doug and her Aunt Charlotte. They remain a part of my life.”

Wylie ISD Trustee Virdie Montgomery was an assistant principal at WHS when Steele was a student. One day after hearing her story, he pulled her into his office and presented her with a card saying, “You are supported and have people who will stand beside you.” Steele said that meant a lot to her.

“Amanda is a treasure,” Montgomery said. “She did not ever allow life's obstacles to deter her. She is just a terrific and impressive young lady.”

Years earlier, at Hartman Elementary, Shannon Souddress, Steele’s music teacher, offered rides home and helped with essentials.

“She really took me under her wing in third and fourth grade,” Steele said. “She was very active in my life and remained a part of my life.”

When Steele needed a place to stay her senior year, her coworker and classmate, Lauren Salazar, and her parents, Steven and Karen Salazar, welcomed Amanda into their home.

“I felt like I was being a burden,” Steele said. “Her family assured me it was okay. I ended up finishing out my senior year in their home. I call them my ‘foster family.’”

Lauren and Steele both graduated from Wylie High School in 2007. The Salazars were there to support Steele just as much as their own daughter.

“I was so used to people abandoning me that I just kept waiting for it to happen, and it never did,” Steele said. “I took them on as my parents, and now Lauren is my ‘sister.’”

Steele found not just stability but a sense of family in her community, whose unwavering support encouraged her to keep going even when life felt overwhelming.

“I always told her she could either be a victim or a survivor—it was her choice. Amanda chose to be a survivor. I’m so proud of her and who she has become,” Shuler said.

Taking Flight

Even in the midst of hardship, Steele made a plan for her future. At 15, she sat down and made a list of possible careers: firefighter, law enforcement officer, CIA, or pilot.

“I needed to start planning my path. I needed a goal that could give me hope to get out of the situation I was in,” she said. “All were high adrenaline. I wanted to travel the world, so aviation won.”

After graduating from high school, Steele earned her private pilot’s license in 2008, then pursued aviation studies at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and later Southeastern Oklahoma State University, home to one of the country’s top aviation programs at the time. While there, she founded a Women in Aviation chapter that still thrives today.

“When I went to college, I finally had my needs met,” Steele said. “My self-esteem grew, and naturally, school started to become easy for me.”

Her career began with flight instruction before moving into corporate aviation. Today, she flies private jets such as the Falcon 7X for clients who hire her expertise through her own company, Refined Steele. Steele now lives in West Plano and spends her days in the sky.

A Life Rewritten

In reflecting on her journey, Steele knows the importance of resilience and the role others played in her journey. Balancing school while experiencing homelessness was overwhelming, and she often felt behind her peers, not because she lacked ability, but because her basic needs weren’t being met. Still, she pushed forward, spending hours each night studying and determined to prove to herself that she could succeed. When she graduated with honors, it was the result of sheer determination and the encouragement of those who believed in her.

“Looking back and rereading the letters has been an emotional experience for me,” she said. “I am reminded how blessed I am to have had so many wonderful people contribute to my life.”

Steele says her experience and the support she found in Wylie ISD shaped who she is today.

“That’s what makes people like Susan so valuable, they can’t replace your parents, but they can help you get through it,” she said.

Amanda Steele’s story is more than one of survival. It’s a story of soaring beyond the odds. From a van parked in Wylie to the cockpit of a jet, her journey shows what’s possible when determination meets community.

In Wylie ISD, school is about more than instruction. Students find people who see their potential, believe in their worth, and stand beside them through life’s hardest moments. For some children, school is the only place they feel safe, supported, and seen, and the place where they discover who they are and what they’re capable of becoming.

Steele’s experience demonstrates that what happens in classrooms, hallways, and offices reaches far beyond academics. Each word of encouragement, every act of kindness, and every educator who shows up can change the trajectory of a life.

That is the power of public education. That is the heart of our community.

And it’s one more reason we are Proud to Be Wylie ISD.