Former NEA President Mary Hatwood Furtell is an iconic advocate who gained equal opportunity and access for young women and girl in education… and society in general.
As a beneficiary of Futrell’s work, noted Washington State-based educator Dr. Marissa Winmill is more than worthy of the award that bears her name, as she strives to create future female icons.
Dr. Winmill is one of the nation’s leading figures in advancing academic opportunity for young women. For over 30 years, she’s served as a visionary education who’s helped implement and carry out curricula that puts a focus on ensuring teen girls are never denied the chance to reach their full potential. Instructing in school settings ranging from the Philippines, to the state of Texas, Dr. Winmill finds the commonality in her young charges, and empowers them to believe in themselves.
During her tenure at Washington’s Kent-Meridian High School, Dr. Winmill has made great strides getting young women in the educational mix where historically they’ve been underrepresented. She launched the Girls Who Code club at Kent-Meridian, providing tools to excel in STEM fields.
As a former board member of the Washington Professional Educator Standards Board (PESB), Winmill proposed policies that benefit female instructors as well as their students. Her membership with organizations such as Kent Educators of Color and Puget Sound ESD Educators of Color has created an atmosphere where the “double jeopardy” stigma young girls of color face can be addressed, and improved.
Marissa has put in years of doctoral research on the challenges faced by BIPOC women in educational leadership to help break, not one, but two “glass ceilings”. She distinguished herself in many other community-based areas away from the classroom. She’s helped secured much-needed revenue by writing grants for the Kent Educators of Color Network, and the Filipino American Educators of Washington.
In a climate where any attempt to consciously speak to the needs of those previously left behind is viewed by some as “unfair favoritism” or “reverse discrimination” Dr. Winmill is fearlessly, fiercely to dispelling that myth, and not letting anyone stand in the way of progress for young women.
As Mary Hatwood Futrell did before her, she’s paying it forward to the next generation of young women to succeed, and take their dreams to the next level. By mentoring women educators, she’s building a legacy… one teacher at a time.
Dr. Marissa Winmill… the very model of gender diversity, equity, and inclusion.
