Dr. Lavada Walden serves as the English Language Arts teacher at the Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program. Her story is a tenacious Texan story – values from a farming family, a deeply conservative upbringing, military service, hard work and education as a means of progressing, and the conviction that a life so blessed should be spent in service to others. She earned the Master of Arts Interdisciplinary Studies (English Literature and Intellectual History) degree from the University of Houston-Victoria and a doctor-of-philosophy degree from Prairie View A&M University in Educational Leadership and Counselling. She believes that a good education is the foundation of democracy, it widens future possibilities, and it is a human right, not a privilege for the few. She believes that it is a teacher’s charge to help students achieve at their highest individual potential. She is excited about the universal connectedness of the study of literature, poetry and composition. She is an outdoor enthusiast and a forest conservationist.