Mr. Burford graduated from Rice University, where he specialized in Shakespearean literature and performance. He first learned to read and write from playing text-based computer role-playing games as a young boy, and his love of all the non-athletic games (video games, role-playing games, and board games) continues to this day. He enjoys finding modern connections in ancient texts and hopes that his students will find their own versions of that joy as well.

Ms. Cardinale has taught at LASA since 2011. She has taught Pre-AP English II, Great Ideas, Contemporary Fiction, Hitchcock, and PALS throughout her years at LASA. She previously coached the swim team for eight years (2011-2019) and has been coaching the girls' soccer team for the last eight seasons.

I look forward to learning and having fun with the freshman class! As a wee lad growing up in Austin, I developed a dedication to serving my local community, which is part of why I love teaching. With collegiate education from St. Edward's University, the University of Notre Dame, and the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK)--along with nearly a decade of professional experiences between online university, outdoor education, HUD, and sports training--I enjoy satiating a variety of intellectual interests (i.e. history, music, art, philosophy, architecture, social justice, STEM).

Stand-up paddle boarding, hiking, swimming, and riding bikes are some of my favorite ways to stay in motion, which should always be balanced with bouts of NAH (Netflix, Amazon, Hulu) and MABS (Márquez, Allende, Baldwin, Steinbeck). Trying to stay energized for all this will have me in my kitchen concocting creations of my usual Southern/Mexican fusion and some of my other favorites like spring rolls, curries, and simple bakes. Now I'm hungry!

My background is in late medieval British literature, specifically Chaucer and the way that his legacy is created and curated in the Early Modern period. So, obviously my interests focus on things with practical applications in everyday life. I look forward to another successful year!

Hello there! My name is Ms. Lange (she/her)! I started at LASA for the 2023-24 school year as a teacher of record, but I had the wonderful opportunity to student teach the awesome class of 2027 LASA freshmen the previous year. I am so excited to be teaching at LASA! (To my previous students, please come visit; I would love to see how you are doing!)

After moving from my hometown of The Woodlands, Texas, I received my Bachelor's degree from UT Austin in English with a minor in UTeach Liberal-Arts. (If you have any questions about UT, feel free to ask!) I always try and bring my full, authentic self into the classroom, and I encourage my students to do the same! A little about me: In my free time, I can be found reading; working on any handful of crafts, such as journaling, collaging, making earrings, drawing, etc; or making a cup of iced coffee to sip on while watching a TV show. (Please give me any recommendations; I'm all ears!) Listening to music is a favorite activity of mine as well, especially as the soundtrack to my cooking ventures, and despite living in Austin for a couple of years now, I am still always on the lookout for new places to explore!

I look forward to growing and learning from you all and with you all! Please reach out anytime; I would love to talk more. :D

Ms. Park recently moved to Austin. Prior to Austin, she lived in Houston, California, and Korea. She was born in Korea and moved to Irvine, California at the age of eleven. She graduated with BA in English Education, but almost got into college as a vocal performance major. So yes, she is bilingual, fluent in both English and Korean (reading and writing included^^).

Like most English teachers, she reads, writes, and drinks coffee... but she also loves binging anime and jamming to Ghibli music, anime openings, and drama OST's. Her favorite sports are yoga and skiing. But on a more serious note, her passion lies in philosophy and psychology - learning about the human psyche and pondering on the why's of the world.

Prior to coming to LASA, she taught English I and IV at St. Andrew's Episcopal School in Austin and at Validus Preparatory Academy in the South Bronx. She's also taught and TAed for American Studies courses at the University of Texas, worked with Breakthrough Central Texas, and led citizenship classes through the Austin Public Library. All together, she's taught and worked with middle school, high school, college level, and adult students!

Dr. Pinkston received a BA in American Studies and English at Northwestern University and a Masters in English Education from Lehman College in New York. Prior to joining the LASA faculty, she earned a PhD in American Studies at UT Austin. American Studies is an interdisciplinary field encompassing all aspects of American history and culture; Dr. Pinkston's research focused on education history and policy, as well as cultural memory (or how we remember and make sense of the past). She'd love to talk to you about any of that - or about her other primary interests: Harry Potter, the Bachelor, and the San Antonio Spurs.

Dr. Pinkston lives in Austin with her husband, who is also a teacher. She loves reading, running (very slowly), and hanging out with her two poorly-behaved dogs, Thelma and Ruth.

While completing the UTeach-Liberal Arts program through UT Austin, I landed the lucky opportunity to work alongside the faculty here as both a student teacher and long-term substitute in Spring of 2022. I am beyond excited to join LASA and continue being part of such a unique and compassionate campus! I am teaching English I and English II for the 22-23 school year. Some of my interests include reading, poetry, art (including cartoons & anime), hiking, traveling, and playing D&D with friends. My mission is to create a safe space within my classroom where students from diverse backgrounds can comfortably cooperate and express themselves to achieve whatever goals they set their minds to. I hope to develop a passion for reading and writing within my students by showing how integral these forms of expression are to understanding ourselves and each other.

I'm a Texas girl. I was born in Mission, raised in San Antonio, and studied at Southwestern Adventist University in a small town near Dallas. In 2018, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English (emphasis in writing) and Minor in Biblical Languages.

During and after my time in college, I had the opportunity to spend some time abroad. I studied in Hong Kong and Mexico; I spent a summer in Lebanon; and after graduating, I moved to Thailand, where I taught high school English courses at an international school.

These experiences helped me develop my main goal as an educator: to help students hone in their ability to engage in constructive conversations with others. This means being able to fully understand someone's perspective, develop an informed opinion about that topic and perspective, and effectively respond in a way that does not shut down the conversation, but encourages the other party to do the same in turn. This can be done through oral or written modes of communication (enter Socratic seminars, rhetorical précis, and essays).

I'm excited to be working at LASA, where we have a student body that is a small yet significant representation of the diverse voices in our community (and the world), and I'm ready to work with these young scholars as they help each other become thinkers and effective communicators of those thoughts.

This school community in the weird city of Austin already feels like home to me, and I'm finally ready to throw down some roots right here in the heart of Texas. Let's get started, y'all!

Mr. Sharp has spent the past fourteen plus years at LASA teaching PreAP English II, Creative Writing, and Literary. Prior to LASA, he was on the founding faculty at Akins HS where he taught the first graduates from sophomore to senior year. He has a Bachelor's in English from UT-Austin and an MFA-Creative Writing from Texas State-San Marcos.

He enjoys music, baseball (go Astros!), reading poetry, and brooding. Once he had a cat--it was a colossal mistake.

I was born in Indiana and grew up in the Rio Grande Valley. I came to Austin in 1995 to attend UT. In 2000 I graduated from University of Texas Austin with a BA in English and a teaching certificate.
From 2000 to 2007 I taught English at McCallum High School at a variety of grades and levels. In the fall of 2007 I joined LASA.
I now teach AP English Language and Composition and two electives, How To Be An Adult and Songwriting. Every spring the Songwriting class produces Coffeehouse, a live music festival featuring LASA student performers. I formerly taught English I and English II at LASA as well as the elective Music and Revolution. From 2013-2017 I was head coach of the LBJ Tennis team.
I live in Austin with my wife and my son and enjoy sharing the music and culture of our beautiful city.

Christina Swan started working at LASA in 2006. These days, she teaches AP English IV, Creative Writing, and sometimes Science Fiction. Christina earned her B.A. in English Literature from the University of Dallas, then moved to Austin to attend the University of Texas, where she earned her master’s degree. She knows a weird amount about Classical Greece for someone with no degree in the subject, but her actual area of specialization is Poetry and Poetics. Ms. Swan loves Shakespeare and Toni Morrison, but also Avatar: The Last Airbender and X-men. She is unhealthily deep into the Star Wars fandom. When not teaching, Ms. Swan is usually parenting her two children. (“Parenting” = playing Dungeons and Dragons with them, trying to make them do their chores, and telling them to go jump on the trampoline.) Ms. Swan is a terrible swimmer, a mediocre seamstress, a pretty good writer, and an excellent reader. If you see her in the hallways at LASA, she will be sipping tea. This is not a metaphor—she just likes tea. And chocolate with sea salt. And breakfast tacos. Yes, she will help you with your college application essay.

Prior to joining the LASA team, Ms. Williams spent five years teaching AP Language and Composition, Pre-AP English II, and American Literature at Connally High School in Pflugerville ISD. Previous summers, she has been a reader for the AP Language and Composition exam for College Board. She started teaching in January 2011.

Ms. Williams took an untraditional route to teaching. Coming from a family of teachers, Ms. Williams claimed that she would “break the teaching tradition” and become a sports photographer for ESPN. Although she never attained an ESPN photo credit, she graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in Photojournalism and a Bachelor of Arts in English with a concentration in Creative Writing. When she wasn’t at the sports desk for The Missourian, Ms. Williams tutored eighth-grade students in her free time. It was this experience that awakened a desire to continue working with children which led her to pursue her M.Ed. in Secondary English Education from Rockhurst University in Kansas City, MO.

Ms. Williams resides in her hometown of Austin. When she isn’t in the classroom, she enjoys sewing quilts, reading books, finding new musicians for her never-ending playlist, and visiting MLB ballparks. She has been to twelve out of 30 MLB ballparks.