Megan
Wells Jamieson

Increasing College Access

31, Boston, Massachusetts

Big city lady, or a small town girl? Though she grew up between dairy farms in rural Vermont, issues in urban public education caught Megan’s attention in college and still haven’t let her move home to grow a gargantuan garden. (Never fear: there’s a thriving potted tomato on her front porch in summertime.) Indeed, Megan has wandered farther and farther from home. After graduating from Smith College in 2003, she taught English and fell in love with Berlin as a Fulbright Scholar in Germany. Back in the States, Megan worked in Boston at the non-profit Steppingstone Foundation, assisting urban middle school students on their journey towards college. After a sabbatical in Cambridge, England studying for her MPhil in Educational Research, Megan is back at Steppingstone as Director of Academy Nine. She is excited to put rubber to road, continuing to reflect on her research regarding race, class, and educational access while also facilitating immediate assistance for urban families and students.

Megan Wells Jamieson's Schools

University of Cambridge , Class of 2008

MA in Education

My research is about working-class students in the US and their experiences attending elite institutions of higher ed. Through case studies I gather students’ thoughts on unique barriers they face and gifts they bring, personal transformations, and what they would change about the institutions they attend.

Smith College , Class of 2003

Bachelors in Comparative Literature

I became a social critic at Smith, and discovered a deep commitment to social justice. In addition to academic work—a lot of literary theory, german grammar, and education politics—I worked on and off campus as an afterschool teacher and a residence assistant. I studied German literature at the University of Hamburg for my junior year, and as a senior, I developed a bread-baking fetish while living in a cooperative.

Randolph Union High School , Class of 1998

In high school I was That Girl (The Annoying One): I did everything you can do at a small-town rural school. Well, everything except sports. I was definitely into the arts: I played the flute and was the drum major, I sang, I was a dancer, I acted in and directed plays, I coordinated state and regional theater festivals, I did the morning announcements over the loudspeaker, and most hilariously, through a chain of odd events, I ended up representing Vermont at the America’s Junior Miss “scholarship competition.” Oh dear. I also did the things you do growing up in the country: wore plaid flannel shirts, helped with the garden, swam in rivers and ponds, and learned the smell of rain and snow.