photo courtesy of Maggie Scott
Although her time at Lick-Wilmerding High School was short, Maggie Scott has made a significant impact. Scott says it’s hard to fit in all she’s done at LWHS under one heading. She has supported the Body-Mind Education Department with developing new curriculum for frosh health and joining LGBTQ FacStaff panels for sophomore sex education, Teaching Assisted in both journalism and acting classes, helped coordinate retreats and community bonding events, supported with COVID-19 testing and test distribution and substituted in numerous classes.
Born and raised in the city, Scott said she has “a long standing history of family in San Francisco. Family members have been here since before the 1906 earthquake.”
Growing up, Scott had a personal relationship with the city.Her parents were both very involved in the community and in their local church, Most Holy Redeemer in the Castro. Returning to SF after several years was challenging for her. “I think living in a city and being from a city that has changed so much, especially through gentrification, is an ongoing heartbreak,” said Scott.
Scott attended high school at Saint Ignatius College Preparatory. An elective her senior year sparked her interest for her life’s path. At SI, “I took a religious studies elective in human sexuality by this amazing teacher, and I was so inspired by that I just thought, I want to study sexuality. This is it, this is what I want to do,” said Scott. When looking for a college, Scott said she knew exactly what she wanted to study. Scott attended Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts where she created an interdisciplinary study of sexuality and theater.
After working different jobs and returning to San Francisco for graduate school, Scott said, “I reached out to my teacher at SI just to say, ‘Hey, I just graduated with my master’s in sexuality studies because of your class, and thank you for inspiring me.’ My former teacher said, ‘This is divine intervention, I’m about to go on medical leave…how would you like to teach my classes?’ So I returned to SI to teach the class that took me on my journey.”
Before going to graduate school, Scott worked several different jobs mentoring kids in the fields of health and sexuality. She worked at a therapeutic after-school program where she mentored kids in a trauma-informed setting. Scott said, “It was a very challenging and also very rewarding job. I learned through doing that work, how much I cared about relationship building.” Scott said something that has stuck with her is that she learned she “really wanted to work with young people in a role that was about showing up consistently and creating a close relationship while also holding boundaries, being an adult figure who was a caring, safe presence in their life.”
Scott next worked at Huckleberry Youth Programs for two years where she was the Senior Health Educator. In November, 2020, she was hired at LWHS. Scott said she has “learned what it feels like to be a part of a school community.” One of Scott’s biggest values is her connections with people. She said “wherever I work, going forward, I want to have the type of role that feels very embedded in the school community. Working in collaboration with lots of different people feels really important to me — to get to know the entire student body.”
Scott leaves Lick-Wilmerding to work at Sonoma Academy as the school’s first health and wellness educator. Scott said, “I feel like my new job will allow me to use all of the things I’ve learned in my different experiences and my different roles.” Scott said she is also excited to both teach and learn at her new job. “It will give me so much room for growth, which is really exciting. It’s maybe the first time at a job where I could see myself growing and learning there for a while.”
