Marie McGrath

I have spent my entire career working with young people, beginning as a classroom educator, teaching English as a second language then moving into the University of Florida English Department as well as University Health Promotion Services, where I served as a poetry instructor and Lead Educator on Sexual Trauma & Interpersonal Violence Education, respectively.

It was in these roles that I came to truly understand the power of education to transform, both on an individual and societal level, and how necessary equity work, peer-education, and youth leadership is to the reformation of these systems.

As I stepped into the non-profit space, I learned to build curricula, relationships, and systems from the ground up in service of youth wellbeing. I worked specifically on creating and deploying programming that highlights the interconnectivity between distracted driving and digital wellness and initiatives that center conversations about well-being and community as critical to the health and safety of young people.

In my conversations with thousands of young people over the course of my time with TextLess Live More and Students Against Destructive Decisions, I have learned firsthand how urgent it is to equip and empower youth to understand the importance and feel the impacts of wellness, relationships, and intersectional health, and to make space for them to lead.

Being in community with these phenomenal young people has fostered in me a pedagogical and strategic philosophy about which I feel passionate, and which is founded on the conviction that the goal of education is to support compassionate, capable citizens in their efforts toward the creation of a better world.