Mara Braddy

My educational pathway has been long and winding, but fun nonetheless! My interests as an undergrad centered around plant science, biology, and sustainable agriculture. In my final years at college, I worked part-time as a nature preschool teacher, and it was an absolute dream! There is so much we can learn from being around little kids. It was a wonderful opportunity to develop my mentoring skills, learning how to create meaningful relationship with my students and their parents, and helped me to realize what was most important to me. I loved sharing my love for science and plants, and I hope to get back to teaching nature preschool again someday! In the summer of 2019, my partner and I moved to Ithaca so he could pursue his PhD at Cornell. I began working in Cornell Research Services as an administrator's assistant, but have recently joined the CALS Student Services team! I'm so lucky to also be pursuing a master's degree in Public Administration at Cornell while I continue to work. My studies are concentrated on environmental policy and advocating for sustainable agriculture and land use. My love for agriculture and science runs deep, so I can't think of a better place for me to end up than CALS!