Ms. Allen has been an ELA teacher at Midlands Arts Conservatory for four years. She is one of the founding members of Midlands Arts Conservatory and was the only ELA teacher during MAC’s first year. That year, students scored above the state average in ELA. This helped Midlands Arts Conservatory to achieve the rating of “Good” on the state report card, unusual for a charter school’s first year.

Ms. Allen has degrees in both English and philosophy and taught philosophy at the University of South Carolina for almost twenty years. She has a B.A. in English and an M.A. in philosophy. She completed her course work for a Ph.D. in philosophy and achieved Ph.D. candidacy before stepping away from academia to raise her daughter. She taught at both USC and Midlands Arts Conservatory for two years before devoting her time and teaching solely to the students at MAC.

Because of her love for both English and philosophy, Ms. Allen strives to create lessons that combine the two whenever possible and that therefore place importance on inquiry. It is her view that English and philosophy are not so different and that philosophy aids in critical thinking. To that end, Ms. Allen believes that children should be encouraged to think for themselves from a young age so that they can truly have a voice. She loves animals, nature, gardening, and outdoor activities such as camping, kayaking, and hiking. Further, she often incorporates nature and the outdoors into her lessons. She has two children, a son, Anthony, and a daughter, Lily.