As we continue celebrating our 60th anniversary, we invited Fantasy Reynolds, our 60th Anniversary Honorary Co-Chair, to reflect on her journey with Key School and Training Center during this exciting milestone year in our organization’s history. In this Q&A, Fantasy shares memories, our impact and the hopes she has for our organization as we continue to look forward to our future.

What is a summary of your journey with Key School and Training Center?

My journey with Key School started back in 2005 with a visit to our pediatrician’s office with our daughter. I’ll never forget it. I mentioned to Dr. John Richardson that our daughter was struggling with sounds in her letters. He didn’t skip a beat and said, “You need to go down and see Mary Ann Key and get her enrolled in the summer program.” And so that’s what we did.

Although I never met Mary Ann Key, Audrey came to the summer program that summer and got her Greek and Latin roots box and she worked on all of her sounds with her letters. From there, I was inspired to advocate for an academic language therapist to come onto her public school campus. I worked very hard on that. I was connected back to Key School and Training Center in 2020 through a friend, Carla Brumley Brown. She came and presented to our foundation, R4 Foundation, about the Key School. It was as if she and I were long-lost sisters and connected deeply on the organization’s mission. It was through Carla that I became reconnected with Key School.

In 2020, she asked me to come onto the Capital Campaign Committee when Key School was raising funds for a new campus. I was honored to be asked. Three years later, she asked me to come onto the board. It’s been such an honor and a privilege to serve Key School and the mission. I always like to say that I’m Key School’s number one fan. Through serving on the board, I’ve seen how amazing it is when you have something you believe in so strongly and see the organization grow into serving more kids. I’ve been on the board now for six years.

What are all the positions you’ve held on the board?

Response: I started out as the building chair. That was fun because I got to serve in the capacity as we were transitioning from a construction project to finding this beautiful property. I oversaw the remodeling and school relocation, which was transformational for our organization. Then I served as the board chair the following three years, and now serve as the vice president and the governance chair.

What does our 60th anniversary celebration mean to you?

It means a lot because we’re taking a moment to honor Mary Ann Key and the legacy that she has left behind at Key School and Training Center. So much of her legacy continues today from the pillars that remain in place to our excellent staff and faculty. When I think about the 60th, I think about all of the students whose lives have been touched by Key School. There’s never been a better time for us to highlight our programs and how special our organization is to our community and to our students.

What is one of your favorite things about Key School?

One of my favorite things is their approach to helping our kids. It’s the individualized instruction and that they really do listen to the child and address their needs. Key School provides the tools that the student needs based on their learning profile and who they are.

What do you want people who are unfamiliar about organization to know about us?

I would want them to know that it goes back to the people. From our leadership team to our teachers and staff, everyone here is so deeply committed to the success of our students. We’re going to meet them where they are and provide them with the tools they need to be successful.

Who is one person in our community who has left the biggest impact on you?

That is a tough question. I don’t know if I can say there’s one person but I think it’s Dr. Richardson. He was a gentleman and had a bright mind. He was a doctor, so he was caring and compassionate, yet calm. When he was in his practice as a pediatrician, he would see students come in that were struggling with dyslexia, and back then, not everyone talked about it. He saw a need in the community and he found a solution.

He found Mary Ann Key, and she went to receive training to become an academic language therapist, and then she built a team of academic language therapists and teachers. Dr. Richardson and his legacy is so impactful. He saw a need in the community with students whose needs weren’t being met, in the traditional educational setting, and came up with a solution: Key School.

He believed in the potential that every child can learn; we just have to unlock their learning and provide them with these tools. He was such an elegant man and he cared deeply about his community. The Key School was near and dear to his heart and I know he’d be proud today to see the Key School in this beautiful setting. Had he not inspired Mary Ann Key, there might not have ever been a Key School.

Describe your favorite Key School memory to date.

One key memory for me is when we had the opening of the new campus in 2021 and had all the students and families here. I’ll never forget this comment I overheard a little boy tell his dad. He said, “Now I can say I go to the most beautiful school in Fort Worth!.” It was so gratifying that we were all here together as a community to celebrate our long history and celebrate a new chapter. It was fun to see the excitement in the students’ faces, their families, and the teachers and staff.

How has Key School changed over your years of involvement?

One of the things that’s been an honor and privilege is to see the growth within our senior leadership team. When I came onto the board in the beginning, we were still young as an organization, although that sounds counterintuitive because we’ve been around for 60 years. I’ve loved seeing how the organization has grown, our leaders have grown and our students have grown. It has all led to our success which has been gratifying to witness.

What do you hope Key School and Training Center’s next 60 years look like?

My hope for our next 60 years is that we are able to connect more people to our mission because there are some people in Fort Worth that don’t know about Key School. I want to spread awareness that if you have a student with a learning difference, that is not a deficit– that is a beautiful quality of who they are. We have this beautiful school you can come to with all of the resources to meet their needs.

I believe that there’s nothing Key School can’t do. That’s exciting because as Tarrant County continues to grow, there are more students that we can serve. I love thinking about all of the things that Key School will continue to do and flourish and how many students we will impact for the many years to come.

What do you feel Mary Ann Key and Dr. Richardson would be most proud of when it comes to celebrating our 60th anniversary today?

I think both of them would be delighted to see that our Key School pillars are still in place today and continue to impact our students. They’d be thrilled that the school has grown, more students are being served and we’re able to train teachers in academic language therapy so they can spread out into the community and make our impact even bigger.

What else would you like to share about our organization?

What is great is that you can go anywhere in Fort Worth and mention the Key School and Training Center and someone in our community has either known someone that went to the Key or has had their life changed because of their time here, whether it was summer program or the school. Key School has always had such a good reputation in our community. I think there is so much more opportunity for us to continue to change lives.