Irving ISD honors a teacher with more than 46 years of dedicated service to the district by naming The Outdoor Learning Center in her memory. At its board meeting on January 19, the Irving ISD Board of Trustees unanimously approved naming the facility the Elise Walker Outdoor Learning Center.
“I won the lottery in the fall of 1967 when I got Mrs. Walker for a first-grade teacher at Brandenburg Elementary School,” says Board Vice President Dr. Steven Jones. “She was a remarkable educator and truly believed every student could achieve and wanted them to achieve at their highest level.”
After earning her teaching degree from North Texas State Teachers College (now the University of North Texas in Denton), Walker began her career in 1930 teaching first grade in Irving, when the town was a small, rural community with one school building. Over the course of her 46-year career, she saw the city and school district experience exponential growth and overcome adversity, including a teacher strike in 1955.
“The vast majority of the teachers struck, but Mrs. Walker did not,” says Dr. Jones. “She went to the classroom every day and continued teaching.”
At a time when Brandenburg Elementary School was designed with classroom patios, Mrs. Walker helped her students maintain a garden.
“She was a think outside-the-box teacher who fostered a love for nature through these gardens,” Dr. Jones said. “Naming the Outdoor Learning Center after her is most certainly fitting. It is our hope that this is a place where students will be encouraged to think outside the box and cultivate an appreciation for nature.”
After 45 years as a teacher in Irving ISD, Walker retired in 1976.
She was born May 21, 1911, in Indiana to Hugo and Anna Vitz. The family moved to Denton, Texas, when Walker was 6 months old. In addition to her teaching degree, Walker graduated from Denton High School in 1929 and also earned a master’s degree from Southern Methodist University.
In 1932, she married Adolphe Walker, a native resident of Irving and a graduate of Irving High School. They had a daughter, Anna Gwen Walker Kirkland, who taught art at Irving ISD’s MacArthur High School. The Walkers were longtime members of the First United Methodist Church in Irving. Mrs. Walker passed away on April 17, 1996, at the age of 84.
About the Elise Walker Outdoor Learning Center
Irving ISD has partnered with Dallas County Community College District and the City of Irving to design and construct the Elise Walker Outdoor Learning Center on a 25-acre tract of land located between North Lake College and Singley Academy. The facility will be utilized by students of Irving ISD as well as North Lake College.
Students will have the opportunity to explore the animals and plants that inhabit the grasslands/prairie, forest/woodlands, marsh, pond and urban areas throughout the property. There will also be a museum-style learning facility, an outdoor classroom with stone seating and a small stage for presentations, as well as a pond to explore aquatic organisms and trails with designated areas to study ecosystems, habitats and food chains.
The project will be funded through the use of Tax Increment Finance (TIF) project funds. The TIF was established by the City of Irving in 1998 to spur economic development within the identified TIF zone.
Following a groundbreaking last April, construction began in December. The anticipated completion date is May 2016.
