MaryClare Park began her UT-Knoxville Instructional Leadership Graduate Certificate in the fall term 2024. She was recently recognized as the Educational Leadership and Policy Studies Department’s “Graduate Student of the Year”. MaryClare earned her BS in Elementary Education and Child Studies as well as her Master’s of Public Policy, Education Policy from Vanderbilt University. She started her teaching career as a third grade teacher at Spring Hill Elementary School in Maury County. She’s spent the last several years in the Metro Nashville Public Schools at Westmeade Elementary School, Granberry Elementary School and Dupont Elementary School as an ELL Reading/Language, Mathematics, Science and Social Studies teacher.