Megan McCaffrey - she/her

Ms. McCaffrey

Social Science / Elective Teacher

Mmccaffrey@sierraacademy.net

Megan first joined the SAEL community in 2015 as a long-term substitute and support person, where she led classes and assisted in a variety of fieldwork outings and overnight trips. Her thirst for travel was far from over, however, and after her first year with us she decided to take some time to solo-backpack through Europe, live and work on farms in the Scottish Highlands and rural Maine, and serve as a teaching assistant at a Nature Center high up in the Blue Ridge Mountains for a year. Her love for California and passion for education eventually brought her back to her home state and the great professional community at SAEL where she has been a Social Studies Teacher and Crew Advisor since January 2018.

Growing up in the melting pot of Los Angeles, Megan was exposed to a wide array of cultures and languages around the world from an early age. As she entered high school, she began to think more deeply about the inequity she observed around her, questioning why only certain groups of people - her close friends included - had consistent access to education, healthcare, and other basic human needs while others did not. These questions eventually led her to Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, where she majored in Sociology and Anthropology. 

Her studies at LC were paired with a newfound adventurous side, where she jumped headfirst into hiking, kayaking, and river rafting all over the Pacific Northwest. In her junior year, she traveled outside of the US for the first time to participate in a four month study abroad program in Kenya and Tanzania. Her days abroad were spent surveying marine conservation efforts in the Indian Ocean, living amongst members of one of the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribes in the world, and conducting written and verbal surveys in Swahili to research educational opportunities for females in rural villages throughout the region.

Megan’s life experiences have cemented her belief that hands-on, project-based learning in and outside of the classroom can challenge and transform young adults in ways that traditional forms of education simply cannot. As a social studies teacher, she works continuously to dismantle traditional historical narratives and eurocentric viewpoints to ensure multiple perspectives are exposed, and to push her students to develop a more comprehensive understanding of the human experience.