Pam Walden knows firsthand what it’s like to be underestimated simply for being a woman.
Shortly after Walden became the first female supervisor of agriculture and ROTC for Hillsborough County Public Schools, she’d hear all about it on a regular basis.
“My secretary would answer the phone and they would say, ‘What do you mean, it’s a female?’” Walden said.
What mattered to Walden more than perception, though, was taking care of her students and teachers. Her positive attitude and willingness to put those people first defined her 10-plus year career at the district office, much like the previous 30 years spent teaching in the Plant City area.
“I have totally enjoyed my 10 and a half years in this role,” Walden said.
Walden knew early on that she wanted to be a teacher, like her mother before her. She started teaching kindergarten in Bealsville at the historic Glover School in the late 1970s before moving on to Trapnell Elementary, where she spent 19 years. She went on to Marshall Middle School, where she taught various subjects, including ag for 10 years, before moving up to become the county’s ag supervisor at Jim Jeffries’ suggestion.
“I thought, ‘You know, that’s not really something women do.’ It really had never been,” Walden said. “It’s typically not a female position. It never had been in Hillsborough County… until me.”
She said she was the only female applicant for the position. But there was no doubt Walden was qualified for it. Ag has always been an important part of her life, as she grew up in a farming family and also had cattle and citrus with her husband.
A year after taking that job, she was given the task of supervising county ROTC programs. That was also a role only men had had until Walden got there, and it came with the most questions from those outside the district office. Not only were people surprised to hear a woman was in charge, but also because she was a civilian.
Walden said, in both cases, she eased any doubts the best way she knew how to: by showing she cares.
Walden has been a longtime volunteer with FFA programs and ag events at the Florida Strawberry Festival and Hillsborough County Fair, and in her role with the district, she continued to work closely with those students and instructors as they went to state and national competitions.
When she learned she would be supervising Hillsborough’s ROTC programs — and there’s one for every high school in the county, incorporating all branches of service — Walden got involved with the Tampa Chamber of Commerce’s Military Council and its programs.
“I got involved with them, so they took me under their wing and they taught me what I needed to know,” Walden said.
Walden has enjoyed her 40-year career within the district and is planning to retire later this year. She’d like to spend more time volunteering in the local ag world, at First Baptist Church of Plant City and elsewhere, but she’ll always miss working with teachers and students.
“I loved working with the kids,” Walden said. “My hands-on work with them, by far, was the most rewarding thing. Whether it was the kindergarten kids or my middle school kids, I enjoyed what I did with them. Seeing the light turn on when they learned something new, whether they learned to read or when their seed began to grow in agriculture class… it was phenomenal.”