By Joshua Koch
Public Communications
Six-year-old Faith Brady may be the Portland Thorns’ biggest fan.
Her love for the National Women’s Soccer League Team was sparked in Ashley Shirey’s kindergarten class at Summerwood Elementary, where students participated in a project called “Women’s Soccer Around the World”, following professional women’s soccer teams. Students utilized subjects such as math, geography, culture, reading and writing to complete a final report for the project.
“It brings my two passions together,” Shirey, who played soccer at Atascocita High School and has taught in Humble ISD for eight years, said. “It makes teaching fun and enjoyable.”
Faith drafted the Portland Thorns and dove headfirst into learning about the team and the city they call home during the 2025 NWSL season. She watched matches, read soccer-themed books and tracked team stats throughout the project.
“I enjoyed seeing Faith and other students get to engage in something that is real world,” Karen Brady, an English II teacher at Summer Creek High School and Faith’s mother, said. “It was interesting to see how they were able to incorporate different subjects through soccer.”
At the beginning of the project, students drafted teams from the NWSL (United States), Barclays WSL (England), Fran Bundesliga (Germany), Division I (France), Liga F (Spain) and the newly created Northern Super League (Canada).
Ultimately, the main goal is for students to build confidence in writing throughout the project.
To strengthen their writing skills, each student wrote a personal letter to their team, introducing themselves and asking questions about the team.
“I think it’s great from a teacher’s perspective to see them so engaged in writing,” Karen said. “I saw Faith grow a lot. That’s something that will stick with them throughout their K-12 experience. They understand how writing can be relevant to real world things and things that they are interested in.”
Shirey placed the letters in the mail. Weeks later, to everyone’s surprise, the responses started flooding in. They came in the form of letters, autographed player cards, team-autographed soccer balls, team scarfs, team flags, social media shoutouts and more. Soccer clubs Arsenal, Racing Louisville, North Carolina Courage, Orlando Pride, Kansas City Current, Angel City, Washington Spirit, and the Chicago Red Stars were ones to each send back items.
SWE’s Ms. Shirey, Kindergartener Faith Brady, her mother and sister pictured with Thorns Captain Sam Coffey.
But the biggest surprise came for Faith. On the day the Portland Thorns played the Houston Dash, Thorns manager Rob Gale showed up in person to surprise her at school. Faith was gifted official Thorns gear, including a custom jersey, and received an invitation to the game. She got to meet the players after the final whistle.
“It was a dream,” Shirey said. “I never thought teams would send things back, especially not offer to come to our classroom. The kids and I will never forget those moments.”
The class wrapped up the project with a field trip to a Houston Dash match, where students were treated to a post game on-field experience.
“I created the project so my girls could see that [a soccer player] is something they could be, it’s possible,” Shirey, who once dreamed of being a professional goalkeeper, said. “And for my boys to see that they can look up to the female players. They are just as good and cool to watch as the guys."
By combining her two passions, Shirey’s “Women’s Soccer Around the World Project” accomplished its original mission – grow students academically, while sparking their passion and creating a new generation of professional women’s soccer fans.
Check out more stories in the 2025-2026 Humble ISD Your Schools Newsletter
