Student - College of Education

Rebekah Skelton is a graduate student in the Educational Leadership and Policy program at The University of Texas at Austin. Rebekah's experiences teaching in both public and private schools in Houston inspired her to fight against inequities in the U.S. education system. Her policy interests include the intersection of public education and prison abolition; school climate and disciplinary practices; and redesigning school curriculum as a means to improve student engagement and school culture, and to divest from carceral practices in schools. Rebekah is currently working on education policy in the Texas Legislature and teaches incarcerated students as a volunteer instructor with a program that offers college courses to incarcerated youth and adults at no cost.

A native Texan, Rebekah previously earned a Bachelor of Journalism degree from UT Austin and is deeply committed to serving her community. Forever an English teacher at heart, her favorite books include Pachinko by Min Jin Lee, Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi, and anything by Hanif Abdurraqib or Walt Whitman.

Rebekah's policy interests include the intersection of public education and prison abolition; school climate and disciplinary practices; and redesigning school curriculum as a means to improve student engagement and school culture, and to divest from carceral practices in schools.