Trace it all back to a patch of lush St. Augustine grass, plucked straight out of a plush Highland neighborhood years ago and brought to the streets in the shadow of Booker T. Washington High School.

Margaret Brown was raised here, on Looney Street, in what some might call "the ghetto," she says as she uses air quotes to say it. See, Brown's grandmother took pride in her yard and brought that grass home from her employer one day to plant in her own yard. But she shared the grass, spreading it to be planted down a few streets.

Brown's grandmother beautified her neighborhood as well as her own home, a home Margaret Brown still lives in. She takes as much pride in that neighborhood, buying up houses on Looney Street to keep it looking nice and her grandmother's St. Augustine grass in top condition - right next to the homes that have let the prized grass grow unruly.

But Brown has grown even greener pastures with her endeavors. Years ago she took a position teaching at a school away from school because the half-day sessions gave her a lunch break to go home and care for her ailing mother. From that small move, Brown has cultivated a lifetime of working for those she calls "the voiceless."

Now the principal of the Academic Recovery & Career Discovery Center, she helps meet the needs of students with educational needs not met at their traditional schools. Some students just need to pass part of the iLEAP test to advance to the ninth grade. Other students may be pregnant or have behavior issues.

Brown "found that the pregnant girls had so many needs" and she tried to find ways to fulfill them. That's when it all started - the grant writing and funding requests spiraling into one of her endeavors, TAPSIS or Teenage Parents Stay in School.

The former science teacher equipped these young women with the resources they needed to stay in school and get a diploma - whether money for child care or the encouragement of a support group.

The goal is to make them self-sufficient, Brown said. "We either take care of them now or later."

Beyond TAPSIS, the former Caddo Teacher of the Year, who has also been recognized as an outstanding administrator, initiated school uniforms, led different schools for students with behavioral problems, started summer enrichment programs and ran after-school programs complete with tennis lessons, art and math remediation.

Brown has no children of her own but "making a difference in the lives of so many young people, not as many as I wanted ... that's my greatest accomplishment." Today, 420 are under her guidance at the Recovery Center campus.

"Margaret has always been there for young people who need someone to care about them," said Ann Stokes, chairwoman of Alliance for Education, who met Brown while serving on the Caddo School Board in the 1980s. "Everybody thinks so much of Margaret because she's always been willing to take the responsibility when others wouldn't."

Additional Facts
Margaret Brown, of Shreveport