“What a wonderful teacher and human being she is,” civics teacher Brian Link said. “She is an East institution. I’m thrilled she’s able to retire.”
Sitting in her high school American History class, eagerly listening to her peculiar teacher’s storytelling, 17-year-old Maureen Galvin realized her love for history.
Following her upbringing in homogenous western New York and her undergraduate and masters years, Galvin found her place of belonging in the progressive suburbs of North Carolina.
In 1993, she started her teaching career in Greensboro before moving to East Chapel Hill High School in the 1999-2000 school year. Unlike at other schools, at East she had the opportunity to work with diverse students and colleagues.
At last, Galvin felt like she “chose the right path.”
Kelly Allen, Galvin’s longtime colleague, began working at East the same year as her.
“She liked to tease me,” Allen said. “We were so young [back then].”
Galvin dove into leadership right away. In 2009, she assumed the daunting task of organizing the Presidential Inauguration field trip to witness the inauguration of our country’s first African-American president.
“Ms. Galvin has more integrity than any teacher I know—and that’s saying a lot,” said Allen, beaming over her co-worker. “She cares deeply that her students become thinking members of our democracy, and she holds all of her students to an extremely high level of expectations. I’m so grateful to have learned from Ms. Galvin and to call her my friend.”
Galvin has taught thousands of students, some even furthering their social studies interests by pursuing politics. Allen Buansi, current North Carolina State Representative for District 56, was a former student of Galvin’s.
In a May 2022 interview with the ECHO, Buansi mentioned Galvin’s dedication to educating the youth about American democracy.
“I always thought of history as a static thing where it was inevitable that ‘X’ would happen; it was inevitable that the Civil War would be fought and that Black people would be given freedom, it was inevitable that Jim Crow would end—when in reality, it wasn’t,” Buansi said. “[Ms. Galvin] taught us to challenge that mindset that it was inevitable that we would advance towards equality. It wasn’t. It took a lot of sacrifice. It took folks, even in the bleakest, darkest moments, having the faith and courage to demonstrate something different about the kind of country that we could be.”
When asked about him, Galvin said, “I’m very proud of him. He was in my APUSH class, just like you. I remember him very well, such a hard worker… It doesn’t surprise me at all that this is the path he’s taken.”
Throughout her entire career, Galvin has allowed her students to rise up to their potential, pushing them to love what they learn. Senior Gabby Sielken, a former student of hers, specifically remembers the memorable praise she and her friends received for their class final project.
“We were having fun, laughing about some parts of the project. Ms. Galvin commented on how she was so happy to see how much fun we were having; it felt so nice that she noticed how much we enjoyed her class and how invested we were in her project,” Sielken said.
Galvin is truly a devoted educator and history aficionado. After the first bell rings, she begins her class with the latest current events and rushes to start her lesson filled with anecdotes and discussion.
“Ms. Galvin really has a passion for what she teaches,” Sielken said. “It was fun to track the class’s progress throughout history by looking at [her classroom’s murals]. They’re also chronological, so it was cool to be learning about a period of time and then look up at the wall and be like, ‘Hey, we’re learning that now!’”
Lately, Galvin stays up to date with today’s politics and their historical significance by reading her favorite historian’s newsletter: “Letters from an American.” Written by Heather Cox Richardson, current Boston College professor, the publications focus on our slightly frightening current political climate.
“To see a lot of progress being pushed back against [throughout these past few years], it’s tough,” Galvin said. “By looking at our history, we can see we’ve had similar issues in the past… With democracy and education, we can get through the problems of today.”
Nov. 30 will be Galvin’s last day of her 30-year teaching career.
“I’ll really miss seeing her around and being able to say hi to her when I walk by her classroom… I’ll really miss having her here as someone I know I can count on,” Sielken said.
Photo courtesy of Ryan Ellefsen
