Inside the life of Mrs. McGarry

Inside+the+life+of+Mrs.+McGarry

Amaya Dukes, Staff Writer

Mrs. McGarry is the STEM teacher at Mayfield Middle School. She teaches sixth-grade AutoCAD, seventh-grade mechanisms, and eighth grade programming and medical.

Mrs. McGarry says that her love of science and experience of construction at home makes her love her job even more. She also says she loves watching her students’creativity flow in class. Before Mayfield’s STEM program began a few years ago, she taught in a regular science classroom. 

With her 22 years of teaching experience, Mrs. McGarry has held several leadership roles and has presented to other teachers at local, state, and national conferences on different teaching strategies and technologies. Fellow-teacher, Mrs. Saunders, “She is very knowledgeable about trends in education and new technology.  She teaches herself quickly then is always ready to help the staff to learn as well.”

Mrs. McGarry wants her students to learn to be independent.  “Students constantly want teachers to tell them what to do, but a part of this class is being self-paced.” She enjoys teaching STEM because it isn’t the same thing every day, “It’s constantly changing,” she says. Mrs. Mcgarry says that loves her job because she gets to do what she loves everyday. Her favorite part is just watching students enjoy what they’re doing.  She also likes that creativity is a big part of her job, because it’s always been a part of her life, too.

Mrs. McGarry grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. She says that there wasn’t a lot of money or opportunity where she was raised, but she was lucky enough to be one of the people from her  hometown to leave for college. After going to Penn State, she attended  Kent State University for a master’s degree, and three different colleges for training in engineering. Those colleges include the Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Southern California, and West Virginia University.

Mrs. McGarry went on to meet her husband while they both were playing rugby for Cleveland.  Her husband has a huge family here in Ohio. “I’m definitely not used to it,” she says. “I just had a small family of just five of us.” She now has her own family here in Ohio, which includes her son (age 14) and her daughter (age 7).

She says she loves being a parent. “I enjoy watching them do what they love.” But when asked what the hardest part of parenting is, she said “watching them suffer and me not having much control over it.”

Outside of school, Mrs. McGarry keeps busy attending her children’s sports and activities. She likes to stay active herself as well. She is a runner and coaches rugby.

Students typically enjoy the STEM program and Mrs. McGarry’s class. Student Jillian Gambino says, “She is very clear and gives help when needed.”  Another student, Nassim Aidja, described her as a “kind, caring, and smart teacher.”