Maggie's dual passions for education and the arts have intersected throughout her academic and career paths. At Northwestern University, she served as the director of a theater company where actors worked with local elementary school children to write, adapt, and perform original student stories. After graduating, she taught 1st grade as a corps member before becoming a founding visual arts teacher, instructional coach, and fine arts department head at KIPP Comienza Community Prep in Los Angeles. Today, Maggie is an associate project scientist at UCI's Connected Learning Lab, where she focuses on developing equitable learning technologies.

Q & A

What led you to apply to Teach For America?

I served as the director of a theater company at Northwestern that went to local elementary schools to perform stories written by the students. TFA presented an amazing opportunity to continue working with young, creative people and bring students high-quality arts experiences.

When you think about yourself before and after the corps, what changed?

I like the idea of TFA as the catalyst. While my corps experience was the spark for changing how I view education and social justice issues, it did not define what I believed. TFA introduced me to a community interested in and engaging in similar social issues. My experience in the corps humbled me and greatly influenced my working beliefs about education.

How have you used the skills and beliefs you developed in the corps?

My years of teaching have been invaluable in how I’ve approached thinking about research. Many people who move to academia––even former teachers–talk about gaps between practice and theory but don’t do much in their work to remedy those gaps. I hope to offer a teacher’s perspective on issues I’m most interested in learning more about in schools.