Tea With Terita

Our esteemed principal, Ms. Terita Walker, has worked tirelessly guiding East through numerous victories and challenges that have ultimately led our community to its 150th anniversary. Throughout the years Ms. Walker’s pride and support has been the face of East High School as she shows up and out at every event, from homecoming, to soccer games, to out of state competitions!

Principal Walker gets her news from Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and also more local sources like the Denver Post. When asked about her best piece of advice for student journalists she shared, “Don't forget to share stories that bring people joy…I think on the other side of any challenge we’ve had, there is a story of resilience or there’s a story of people coming together in unity.”

This year there have been multiple district wide changes in curriculum that have become controversial throughout East High School. Most notably English and Science classes have had changes to both curriculum style and requirements. Ms. Walker gives insight about the changes from her time as an English teacher stating, “Our teachers are so many amazing things, and they want to share that with students…and some of this curriculum doesn't allow them to be them and support you guys.”

 Throughout the 2025-2026 school year Ms. Walker is primarily focused on fostering trust within the community and improving attendance rates. Despite East’s attendance being relatively strong in comparison to previous years, Walker is looking to reengage members of our community who may have been lost due to a lack of trust. Principal Walker believes that, “Not everything needs to be changed and every day is just about being better than you were yesterday”, using this philosophy Ms. Walker is looking to grow from previous challenges.

East has been under fire as a result of its relatively recent installment of two gender neutral bathrooms on the second floor. In response, Ms. Walker wanted to emphasize how much work was put into bathrooms before they were installed claiming, “This is about what our kids, all of our kids, have expressed and there will be some kids who are not interested” adding, “We just encourage people to do exactly what we did: take the time to listen, understand why, and do as much as we can to protect all of the students, as we possibly can”.

Since she became the principal at East, Walker has become a micro-celebrity to our enormous community. Like many celebrities, Principal Walker says a challenge for her is,“I can't go to the grocery store in my pajamas!...I’m a human too and I think people forget that sometimes.” East has around 2,500 students and 125 teachers, who all rely on and look to Principal Walker in times of need. Ms. Walker says, “This is like a small town, and I am not like a mayor… But you get pressed into those spaces.” She describes the weight that comes with her job, but divulges how she overcomes this challenge, “I refuse to forget what it was like to be 15 or 16 so I try to make sure you guys know that. I don’t expect perfection… but I do want you to be smart and safe and sometimes listen to those of us who had to learn the hard way so that you don't have to.”