MAJ Debra Pugh

MAJ Debra Pugh serves as Chair of the English, Languages, and Art Department at Hargrave Military Academy, where she teaches English 12 and Creative Writing. She started at Hargrave in 2006 and has taught the spectrum of courses in dual-enrollment, honors, and standard-level English, Speech, Creative Writing, and SAT Prep. Having taught for four years at the college level, what she loves most about teaching at Hargrave is providing a safe place for students to make the mistakes that are a necessary part of the learning process.

MAJ Pugh was born and raised in Richwood, West Virginia, and grew up exploring the Monongahela National Forest. She attended West Virginia Institute of Technology for a year, where she met her husband, Mikel Pugh. After they married and moved to New Jersey, she earned an Associate’s degree in Liberal Arts from Burlington County Community College, and they had their two children, Cody and Carrie Lee. After the family moved back to West Virginia, she returned to college to finish her bachelor’s degree in English at Concord College in Athens, West Virginia. She then earned a Master’s degree in Literature from Radford University, where she was a graduate teaching fellow.

MAJ Pugh enjoys gardening, reading, spending time with her family, playing and modding video games, and sitting on the back porch with a warm beverage and a cat in her lap during a thunderstorm. Her favorite thing about Hargrave is the students.