Ava Bradley, Teaching Fellow
Ava studies Education and Linguistic Anthropology at Brown University, with a focus on linguistic diversity and community-based educational praxis.
She is excited to spend the 2025 spring semester with BOPN, while taking a break from her program!
Ava grew up in southern California and her own education began at a Reggio Emilia preschool, where hands-on learning pairs with the power of nature and the outdoors, as conduits for learning and growth. Many years later, Ava returned to that same preschool as a volunteer, and fell in love with the work. She has been working towards her goal of becoming an educator ever since!
Alongside coursework in Spanish and American Sign Language at Brown, Ava studied the intersection of language and education, family engagement in education, and educational psychology—while also working at a local preschool.
She has a deep love for the natural world and the outdoors, with skills training to match! As a junior at Brown, Ava completed over 150 training hours in facilitation and outdoor survival skills, and earned certifications in CPR and Advanced Wilderness First Aid while preparing to lead a 5-day backpacking trip for incoming sophomores.
Ava is committed to building local community, and practices of interdependence. For two years, she was part of an environmental co-op focused on nonhierarchical community living, and ethical food consumption. She is also involved with the housing justice movement in Rhode Island, organizing street outreach to provide unhoused community members with basic needs, and connect them to resources whenever possible.
At Brown, Ava studies the impact of children’s home communities on their education, and the knowledge base it provides. As a future educator, she is committed to highlighting the diversity of cultural and linguistic resources within her classrooms.
