Long before Carnegie had it’s gym, Miyuki Scott was teaching PE outside of the CVHS walls, hauling volleyball gear across town in a borrowed van. As a former Division I athlete who once balanced the honor roll and high school sports, Scott brought that same grit and passion to building Carnegie’s athletic program from the ground up.
She was just off the court playing AAU basketball when a recruiter came up to her. From there, she got a full ride scholarship to play D1 basketball and volleyball for Texas A&M Corpus Christi.
For her 17 years teaching at Carnegie, Scott has been the physical education teacher, volleyball coach and dance teacher. She has seen the volleyball program grow to a competitive force with championship titles.
“I definitely couldn’t have done it myself,” Scott said. “But, I thought we were doing well for such a small school with very academically inclined students. I knew that to get better, you need to play for more than one year.”
Scott attended a high school where she excelled academically and balanced playing volleyball and basketball. She continued playing D1 into college, where she played basketball her first year, then switched to volleyball for the next two.
“I played on the first volleyball team at Corpus Christi ever, in 1999,” Scott commented. “We were all really young, and it was a brand-new program, but there was a learning curve; it was fun.”
Scott’s original plan wasn’t to go into teaching. She studied kinesiology in college and interned in sports administration at the University of Houston. However, another opportunity came to her to venture into teaching, but at an elementary school first. She taught PE and coached basketball at the elementary school.
“After that, I found out that I really like teaching and coaching. I taught elementary for three years, and have been doing high school ever since,” Scott said.
She was scouted by Bob Jonas, a teacher at the former Jones Vanguard High School. He was a figure in the school system and the first to be a volleyball coach. Scott his assistant coach, standing side by side throughout each season. When Jones Vanguard branched off into Carnegie Vanguard, Scott came with them, noticing there was no gym.
“My first thought was, ‘How are we going to teach PE without a gym?’” Scott commented. “The cafeteria was way smaller than it is now, so PE was 100% outside. When I coached volleyball, we would hold practices at Welsh Elementary. A parent would give me keys to a van and we would drive there.”
Despite the hurdles, she stayed and saw the PE program from the ground up. CVHS eventually got its own gym and she was grateful for the new addition. Though she loves the playing aspect of PE, it is much more than just games for Scott.
“My goal is for every student to find something that they love to do for the rest of their life. Hopefully by the time you leave my class, you have something [like that],” Scott said.
