A rising senior, Kathleen Terrey was born in Roslindale to a family with a history in public service. It was not the many hours she heard her relatives extolling unions or arguing case law which piqued her interest in helping others, however; the blame for her love of helping others can be entirely placed on her grandmother, a storyteller and a devoted public outreach agent. Kathleen learned from her grandmother the unity which stories could engender, that viewing each stranger as a book to be opened promotes empathy.
At a young age she began working in a gardening store in her neighborhood, chatting up customers in an effort to form new connections. She realized how much she enjoyed meeting people who lived in the same setting as her, but could present different perspectives. She combined this passion with another she had recently developed at BLS—the ever growing field of science. Over the summer, she interned at Mass General Hospital and was introduced to the field of public health, with the task of creating a PSA about health disparities in Boston. With the production experience she gained at MGH, Kathleen interned for the City of Boston, working in communications for the environment department. This position rejuvenated her interest in politics and writing, as she saw first hand the work that so many committed workers devoted to the City to mitigate the effects of climate change. For the first time, not only did she have hope for the environment, but also the motivation to chip in to help it. By writing newsletters and articles for the City, she tried to instill that same hope in others. She also incorporated City programs that students could participate in to combat climate change into presentations for the club that she was co-president of, FemInSTEM.
She channels her passion for education, which she developed while tutoring after school and in her studies, and the joy that writing gives her into her position serving under Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education Commissioner Jeff Riley.