Lenna Bowden

Lenna Bowden teaches Middle School Language Arts at the Lower Campus. She earned her undergraduate degree in Journalism, and minored in Environmental Management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She earned her Master’s in Teacher Leadership at California Lutheran University. Outside the classroom, she enjoys surfing, hiking, and curling up with a good book!

Why I teach at OVS

I love OVS’s philosophy that learning doesn’t always need to take place between four walls!

Career experiences that enhance how and what I teach

Before I went back to grad school, I had the opportunity to write environmental impact pieces for SurferGirl magazine. This taught me the importance of intentionally choosing words to share a specific message in order to bring about positive change, which transfers into how I teach writing today — each word should contribute to sharing a perspective. Writing doesn’t have to be scary! By writing in a step-by-step manner, my goal is to empower my students to find their voice in their words.

Favorite book and why

There are just too many to list!

Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Dear Martin by Nic Stone, Internment by Samira Ahmed, Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, They Called Us

Enemy by George Takei, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and of course, The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Adjectives that best describe my teaching style

Energetic, kinesthetic, real-world application, student-centered. I am on an empathy mission!