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Katy Neas : She can teach us all a thing or two ! by Alexandra Nava-Baltimore
Katy Neas
Spanning a powerful 30 year career , Katy Neas , the Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services ( United States Department of Education ), works tirelessly as she continues her plan to create a clear and strong support system for children , families , teachers , and all those involved in the education of students with and without disabilities . Using her passion and drive , along with the experience and skills she gained from her early career in Senator Harkin ’ s office , Easterseals , and the Physical Therapy Association , Katy is a catalyst in the world of education .
[ This interview has been edited for length and clarity . ]
Can you share with me a bit about your family and where you grew up ? What college did you attend and what was your choice of study ? “ I grew up in Des Moines , Iowa . I am the middle child . I have two brothers . I had a sister who died before I was born who had multiple significant disabilities . When I was younger , my parents talked about her infrequently . Once I joined this field , I ' ve learned a lot more about what her life was like , being medically fragile [ and ] what that was like from my parent ' s perspective , my mother ' s perspective , mostly . Being a family was very important to them . And there were things that we did because we were a family that was sort of the rule … why were we doing this ? Well , we do this because we ' re a family . That certainly was a big part of shaping me
in terms of my view . Family ' s always been the most important thing to me . My family is not just my biological family . I grew up in the family I ' ve created but certainly the family of people I ' ve gotten to know over the course of my career .
When I was in high school , one of my best friends committed suicide . It really rocked my world in a way , changing my perspective of needing to help people and wanting to not stand back on the sidelines , watching terrible things happen when maybe I could do something to alter that course . I certainly didn ' t sort of sit down and say , “ I ' m going to channel this pain into something good .” It is just something that happened over time .
My older brother got into Georgetown . We would visit him in Washington . I thought
Washington was probably the coolest place you could ever be . There was a Georgetown alumni representative in Des Moines and I had met with her several times . She suggested I apply to the School of Language and Linguistics . When you apply to the language school , you apply to a specific language . So I checked the box that said Chinese - having never studied Chinese because it was a good strategy for getting in .
So I got the letter , “ Dear Miss Beh , [ we are ] happy to [ accept you ].” [ When I got there ] I did nothing but study . I ' d go out Friday night and then I ' d study all day Saturday and Sunday because I had to test every Monday morning in Chinese . I decided that studying 24 hours on the weekend was not how I wanted to spend my entire college career , so long story short , I switched majors and