Teen in De Pere, accomplished author with a focus on education and social and emotional learning

DE PERE, Wis.(WFRV) 17-year-old Ava Van Straten has accomplished a lot in her life so far. She is a Girl Scout Gold Award recipient, a soon-to-be Eagle Scout, and a published author.

Her books are geared towards children and their social and emotional learning.

“I have been working on writing books on social and emotional learning including my latest tool kit on empathy with my new book, Parker’s Path, and its related curriculum,” said Van Straten.

She has developed the educational resource for children to use in order to learn more about empathy in a time where technology is reducing empathy development.

“My curriculum has activities, ‘words to know,’ and learning objectives that they can do for first through fourth grade,” said Van Straten.

Mary’s Heart is Van Staten’s first book which tackled the topic of kindness, and also includes an educational-based curriculum.

“English is my favorite subject in school, because I really enjoy reading and understanding works, especially when we do works in translation,” said Van Straten.

In her English classes, she has learned about creative writing which helped her put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard.

Copies of the her latest book, Parker’s Path, will be distributed to schools for 1st through 4th grades, libraries, and organizations for free as part of Van Straten’s Eagle Scout project.

If you would like a copy, send an email for morebyava@gmail.com The book was illustrated by Lieutenant Colonel David Jones, the Ethics Chair of Character Development at West Point.