Teacher. Singer. Advisor. Daughter. Wife. Advocate for women. Most importantly, Meghan Geary is an inspiration for young girls growing up in this society. Her positive attitude, luminous smile, and an incentive to help every student constantly uplifts the energy at Woodland. Geary has partaken in countless projects to give back to the community, as well as to support women around the world. As a Woodland Worldwide adviser, with Lisa Olivere, they take on women’s issues together as they strive to change the world.
As Woodland Worldwide continues to grow, the group has partaken in many initiatives to support different issues.
“We’ve done everything from [holding] 5K events where we raise tens of thousands of dollars and supported organizations like the Somali mom organization, which went to fight human trafficking in Asia to help build a library in an Ethiopian village,” Geary says. “We have also hosted escape alive, which is Jane Do No More organization. They come in and teach self-defense classes, to students and parents.”
Aside from profited activities, Woodland Worldwide also engages in team bonding activities, like zip lining and rope adventures. Geary says they constantly try to host activities that will bring the group closer together.
Geary’s passion for making a difference for women started many years ago.
“I spent some time in my early 20s traveling. I spent time in Western Africa, and I spent time in South America,” Geary says, “and I was always stunned by how much work the women and the girls did in their culture, and how little they seem to be rewarded or appreciate it.”
This experience with less fortunate women made her grateful for life in America and encourages others to be grateful as well. Geary highly recommends everyone to travel to different cultures to get an insight into how people live around the world. It’s healing to take in the experience, reflect on it, and compare it to how we live in America.
As an advocate for women and young girls, Geary is affected by different kinds of issues.
“Some issues that are really important to me are also like, you know, issues of discrimination, equal pay, and representation. So we have like the most women ever in Congress right now than we’ve ever had in the history of our country. But we’re still only at like, less than 20%,” Geary explains. “We make up 51% of the population and until we are represented, you know, both in gender and in race and religion, our society can do better.”
Geary tries to incorporate these issues into her classes to help educate her students. In her junior AP Lang classes, she will provide articles about current event issues affecting women to prepare them for the AP test.
AP Lang student Vinny Zheng believes he’s been inspired by her teachings.
“Learning about these issues made me realize how important it is to support women’s rights,” said Zheng.
Geary has been educating Woodland students through English and current issues, and she continues every day to inspire the youth to advocate for their passions.
