The VISTA Project

Serving with the Catholic University of America, Maggie spearheaded the Pathways to College initiative as a Cultural Engagement Specialist. The core of this program was designed to pair dedicated university student mentors with middle school students in underserved Washington, D.C., communities. The overarching goal was to provide these younger students with consistent academic support, exposure to college and career opportunities, and a strong foundation to help them reach their post-secondary goals.

The Challenge
Launching and maintaining a relational mentoring program during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic presented massive structural obstacles. Traditional campus life was disrupted, making typical volunteer recruitment methods obsolete and forcing Maggie to find highly creative ways to capture college students' attention in a virtual and quiet environment. Furthermore, when the middle school mentoring sessions began, the virtual landscape left the younger participants highly detached, quiet, and hesitant to turn on their cameras or engage.

The Solution
To combat low campus engagement, Maggie deployed incredibly inventive outreach strategies, which included ringing an ancient Chinese gong outside the dining hall and introducing a three-foot-tall plush Peep named "Gregorius," who quickly became an interactive photo-booth celebrity across the university. Beyond creative marketing, she designed and implemented a "Solidarity Circles" prerequisite curriculum based on the Joven Noble model to help university students build skills in public speaking, active listening, and relationship-building. Once they were paired with the middle schoolers, she coached the college mentors to step out of their comfort zones and use humor to put the younger students at ease.

The Legacy
Maggie's innovative and consistent approach successfully grew a dedicated mentor base and institutionalized several lasting traditions at Catholic University, including establishing a new annual Jazz Night for the university's MLK Teach-In. The ultimate testament to her work was the slow, steady transformation of her virtual classroom, where the once-detached middle school students progressively turned their cameras on one by one—a deeply symbolic breakthrough of earned trust. In recognition of her extraordinary lifetime dedication to national and international service, which accumulated over 4,000 hours across her Peace Corps and AmeriCorps terms, Maggie was honored by President Joe Biden at the White House with two Presidential Volunteer Service Awards and the prestigious President's Lifetime Achievement Award.

---

Life After VISTA

Maggie leveraged her VISTA experience to launch an extraordinary career of high-impact federal service. She first stepped into the Department of Justice, working with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) as an Investigative Specialist. In this elite, specialized role, she utilized her keen observational and analytical skills to support critical federal intelligence and investigative operations.

Building on this impressive foundation of public service, Maggie transitioned to her current role as an Environmental Protection Specialist with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Working within the EPA's chemical safety and pollution prevention division, she manages critical environmental compliance, analyzes complex regulatory data, and leads key initiatives to protect public health and the environment. Her rapid rise through two of the nation's premier federal agencies stands as a powerful example of the career-launching potential of a TMA VISTA term.