Benjamin Walker, Trustee

Ben Walker’s professional life has been dedicated to art education. His own high school experience in choral music and visual art opened doors to a rich career in education and also has provided him great personal happiness. He firmly believes that the arts can transform lives and that the public schools are the best single opportunity to bring the arts to the greatest number of people.

With a Master’s degree from Wayne State University, Mr. Walker has also studied choral music at Alma College, Eastern Michigan University and the University of Michigan. His career in education, that spans more than 40 years, has included teaching music in the Flint Public Schools, Warren Van Dyke Schools and the Grosse Pointe Schools. In 1995 Mr. Walker received the Newsweek Magazine Teacher of the Year Award for his work in Grosse Pointe.

As an administrator, Mr. Walker served both as Assistant Principal and Principal at Grosse Pointe South High School. In 2001, Mr. Walker and was the Founding Principal at the Arts Academy in the Woods, a four-year public high school with an integrated arts curriculum. In 2005, after the Arts Academy graduated its first class, he was a finalist for the Administrator of the Year Award from the Michigan Association of Public School Academies.