Striving for Thriving Kids is passionate about bettering the lives of kids who struggle with executive functioning skills, and their families, through effective, collaborative and customized support.
Catherine Stryker
Founder of Striving for Thriving Kids and Lead Coach
Born and raised in the San Antonio area, Catherine has been a part of the Boerne community since 2014. She earned her Bachelors in Education from Texas A&M University in 2002 and her Masters in Education from the University of St. Thomas in Houston in 2007, completing her K-12 Principal Certification that same year.
Catherine has experience in a wide array of teaching environments, subjects and grade levels as a certified classroom teacher since completing her undergraduate education more than 20 years ago.
In 2020, Catherine discovered her love of working with small groups, and specifically one-on-one tutoring and coaching. Not only an area of interest for her, but also one she felt was underserved, she began attending courses and training for executive function coaching shortly thereafter. She has completed numerous courses and training, including Sarah Ward’s Executive Functioning Foundations and Masters Courses.
Catherine prioritizes her own continuing education, training and research as the science behind executive functioning is ever evolving and she wants to be certain that she can provide her students with the most recent and up to date techniques and modalities. Catherine is married and has three children, one of whom struggles with executive functioning.
She lives in the Fair Oaks Ranch community and loves spending time in the Texas Hill Country and in Colorado. When she is not busy with SFTK, she loves quality time with her family, theater, and being outdoors.
Barbara Mayers
Coach at Striving for Thriving Kids and
Dyslexia Specialist
Barbara Mayers is a retired educator. She has taught elementary, middle and high school students in the San Antonio and Boerne area.
Her focus is in reading, dyslexia and executive functioning. She received her BS in Education at UTSA, where she also earned her MS in Curriculum and Instruction with a Reading Specialist certificate. She spent her last 10 years as a dyslexia specialist in Boerne ISD. She is a certified ADHD coach and is excited about working with students who struggle with executive functioning skills.
Her passion is helping struggling readers thrive in the classroom. Building her student's self esteem is very important to her. Student's who are confident are willing to take risks when reading or working on difficult tasks. As a dyslexia specialist she helped students reach their potential and overcome their executive functioning and reading struggles.
Barbara enjoys spending time with her two grown children, friends, traveling, reading on a beach and gardening.