Pharr poet gives back to at-risk youth through poetry and guidance

Amanda Puryear El, an author and poet born and raised in Pharr, is not ashamed of her troubled youth.

Now, she uses poetry to motivate, inspire and guide at-risk students at the same alternative high school she attended, hoping to make a difference and lead youth down the right path.

Dubbed the poetry whisperer by the students at Buell Central High School, PSJA’s Alternative Education Program for 6-12 students assigned there through a disciplinary hearing, Puryear has been going to the school since 2019 teaching students poetry and letting them express themselves through art.

Inviting a reporter to her Pharr home to give a deeper sense of who she is, Puryear said she is surrounded by nature with greenery everywhere in her yard and her beloved birds and dogs.

She has tattoos from her he