Houston, TX - Hartsfield Elementary School

MyKayla Searles-Houston

Learning Center Director

Email: msearleshouston@usdreamacademy.org

MyKayla Searles-Houston is the Center Director at our Learning Center, located at Hartsfield Elementary. She grew up in Dallas, Texas, and moved to Houston in 2016. She began her journey with the Houston Dream Academy in 2017 as a mentor while obtaining her undergraduate degree from the University of Houston.

During this time, MyKayla discovered her passion for working with youth from underserved communities and helping them reach their full potential.

She has a bachelor's degree in Psychology with a minor in Biology. She is currently completing her Masters in Public Health at the University of Texas Health Science Center. She takes pride in working in youth development while learning about her community. She loves connecting with others and being able to work and collaborate in her community. MyKayla navigates life through being compassionate, patient, and staying present.

Dipen Bhakta

Co-Area Leader

Email: dbhakta@usdreamacademy.org

In 1999 Dipen and his family moved to Houston, TX, to the Third Ward neighborhood. Little did he know that the Houston Learning Center opened in his community in 2002 when he was in the 7th grade.  While a student at the University of Houston Dipen desired to become closer to the community he grew up in.  In 2008, he became a mentor for the U.S. Dream Academy that was located not far from his university. 

This started him on his journey from a volunteer mentor to leading the expansion of Dream Academy in Houston.    In 2013, after successfully mentoring for five years, Dipen was given the opportunity to be the Program Coordinator at the Learning Center at Foster Elementary School. A role he says would eventually shape his understanding of Youth Development.  With much support from his colleague and mentor, Walter Hull, Dipen took the position of Center Director in 2015. 

Leading the expansion, Dipen and his co-leader Walter have expanded from one learning center to three along with the development of a new youth-led violence reduction project called the Scott Street Youth Initiative.  Dipen focuses on high quality collaborations with various community based programs and universities across the City of Houston and implements and oversees research-based quality programming methods to support the Learning Center Directors and staff at the various sites in Houston.

Walter Hull

Co-Area Leader

Email: whull@usdreamacademy.org

Over the past 13 years, Walter Hull has become a rising Social Artist, Thought Leader, and Youth Development Strategist in Houston, TX. Through his work with the U.S. Dream Academy, a national mentoring organization dedicated to improving neighborhoods that have been harmed by mass incarceration, Walter has helped shape the organization's approach to community asset building through mentoring.

As an artist, his choreography has deep roots in social justice stories in the black community that he refers to as his Village Responsibility. As Executive Director of Urban Souls Dance Company, Walter has founded the URBAN Kids and URBAN Girls Initiative that mentors youth through the art of dance. He has also created artist development workshops in Kigali, Rwanda, geared towards providing space for youth artists to develop as leaders in their communities.

Today, Walter continues his work with the U.S. Dream Academy Houston and enjoys collaborating with organizations to tell their story, support their youth voice, and facilitate mentoring training.