Pecantown Innovator Pete Silvius

SISD Leader Champions the Whole Child

The very definition of insanity is doing the same thing, the same way but expecting different results. But making change happen requires engaged, passionate, innovative leaders. Fortunately, Seguin is home to many individuals committed to its success, and Pecantown is an effort to unite them to harness the winds of opportunity blowing our way to the benefit of all.

One such leader is Pete Silvius, Director of Whole Child Initiatives for Seguin ISD. He and his wife Jackie, a district librarian, have been tireless advocates for Seguin’s children for 15 years. Pete has weathered multiple administrations and challenges in his relentless pursuit of excellence and innovation.

Recently, he led efforts to launch the LiiNK program at five elementary schools. Here, he shares his vision and optimism for the district and the community.

1) How have you seen your role evolve over the years at SISD? What programs or initiatives are you most proud of?

I was lucky that I came into Seguin ISD through a relationship with Irma Lewis and Rick Robbins.  I was able to walk into a job where I had a bus and access to the Seguin Outdoor Learning Center (SOLC) to teach outdoor education.  My brother Erik and I were hired to teach PE/Outdoor Ed. at Erskine in 2003.  In an effort to expand the reach and purpose of the program, we started adding other lessons around Seguin.  We called it community based physical education (with the goal of teaching our students the skills needed to stay active in Seguin). We taught swimming at TLU, roller skating at the skating rink, golf at Starcke, canoeing/kayaking, biking, rock climbing and etc. at the SOLC.  This was in addition to a traditional PE curriculum that taught sport and recreation skills in the gym at school.  This was a great 6-7 years.  

In 2010, when Rodriguez Elementary opened, I was told that I would be moved to open the school.  Erik stayed at the middle school for one semester but it was clear the program was not going to stay the same.  That spring, he took a job with the HEB Foundation Camp.  During this time, I was struggling with the move, but also working on an idea that Erik and I had considered years before to bring our outdoor education students to the HEB Foundation camp, who was looking for a way to fill their facilities during the week.  The plan never came to fruition due to lack of support in Seguin at the time.  However, the Principal at Rodriguez had mentioned during the first weeks of school that she wanted to find a way to build unity in the 5th graders who had all been pulled together from many schools.  After telling her about the HEB Foundation camp, she said “Okay, let’s do it.”  In May of 2010, I brought the Rodriguez students out to the HEB Foundation camp, with the excitement of being Erik’s first group in a new program to try to bring schools out during the week.

We now take all Seguin ISD kids out to the HEB Foundation camp.  10 years now!  I am very proud of this program.  

Erik and I still get to work together and design programming but now in a different way.  Some things happen for a reason.  I think we are both in better places now than we would have been had the Rodriguez move never happened.  

2) What is your vision for Seguin and nurturing the whole child, and the importance of total health and wellbeing to educational success?

I think we are closer to this than we have ever been during my 15 years in SISD.  We have decision makers who understand the science that tells us that active, well fed and engaged students learn better.  Our leaders understand and believe that academic performance is a product of first meeting the foundational needs of our students.    

Truly bringing LiiNK in has been a dream come true.  It has been five years in the making and many, many “No’s” before this “Yes, let’s do it” that Dr. [Matthew] Gutierrez gave when he arrived. 

3) What do you see as Seguin’s greatest strengths?

Potential!  We are small enough to be agile, yet big enough to have big problems that need big solutions.  I have always told people “if it works in Seguin it will work anywhere.”  This makes Seguin a great place for grant dollars and a great place to attempt bold and innovative ideas.  

4) What keeps you up at night as you think about our community’s future? 

We (Seguin and the world) must believe that our safety, success and happiness can all be traced to our efforts in public education.  In Seguin, the economic divide that has marginalized so many and caused fear and anger continues to be a big problem for us.  Our shared community resources need to reflect our values and ethics.  Schools, parks, and sidewalks all are community resources that need to be improved and enhanced.  The more walkable our town is, the safer it will be.  We just need to get people in Seguin to understand that we must invest in ourselves and hold ourselves to a higher standard.  

5) How do you stay so passionately engaged in the district and the community?

I am energized by many people in Seguin.  We have some dynamic, progressive people.  I think often I am shocked at this because we are a small South Texas town.  Maybe for that reason there is a heightened value to these people. 

This has been a good run lately, too.  There have been times over the past 20 years when I was sure we had picked the wrong place to raise our family, but those times were fewer than the positive times and over the years this has become home.  

Don’t get me wrong, I think there is a lot more to be done but every time I walk or ride on the bike path, or even walk to get some eggs or walk to a gift shop, I feel good about Seguin.  I think we could really have a town that is not just tolerable, but is a cool, inclusive, safe, healthy and happy place to live and work.