Alumni Profile: Sarah McGrath '14
After graduating from GUS in 2014, Sarah McGrath went on to Pingree School, where she graduated in 2018. From there, she went on to Providence College, where she got her Bachelor’s in accounting in 2021 and received her Master of Business Administration in 2022. Currently, she is a senior associate at PwC in Boston and a member of the Glen Urquhart School Board of Trustees.
Reflection from sarah
Since graduating in 2014, I have thanked my parents countless times for their choice to send me to GUS. Though they often tell me that the best thanks is seeing my brother and me thrive, when I consider how thankful I am for my GUS education and for all it has allowed me to achieve, I can’t help but thank them!
My White Shirt Project still hangs on the wall of our house, and my parents still love to talk about my ‘This I Believe’ speech from Evening with The Graduates. The tiniest lobster I have ever seen lived in my fourth grade classroom, and my favorite book of all time, Bird by Bird, came from my 7th grade English teacher. I find myself telling people about my eighth grade work week on a Native American Reservation, all these years later. People are usually in awe of all the things I got to do in elementary and middle school, but it really isn’t about me - it’s about GUS. Every single kid in my class had all those same experiences!
And it isn’t just the long resume of experiences that makes me proud of what I did at GUS, it’s also the values that I walked away with. I was taught to ask questions, to appreciate the community around me while seeing the bigger picture and how I fit into it. I was taught that it’s not just what you learn, but the experience of learning that is important. I was taught the power of community, and the importance of taking care of each other and the environments we are a part of. All of these things have stuck with me since and will continue to for the rest of my life.
Today, I am an auditor. In a profession that prioritizes efficiency and work ethic, I have found a way to also prioritize my relationships. My first week at PwC, a connection I made through GUS reached out and said, “Always remember you can be professional and still care about those around you.” Is there anything more GUS than that statement? It has brought me far, and I believe this value is at the heart of what GUS taught me to be.
In any room I am in, I find myself often asking the question “why?” I encourage those who work for me to do the same – why are we performing this test? Why do we need more information? In the hustle of a busy workday, it is a question that is often forgotten, and yet the importance of it has never been lost on me. “Why” often gets at the root of what we are doing, and often gets at an answer that otherwise would be lost. This is a habit derived from my GUS classrooms.
All of this is to say, GUS has stayed with me. I am proud of the things I did while at GUS and the things I have done since because of what GUS taught me. When people ask, I am proud to tell them I went to the small school in Beverly Farms that taught me big things about the world around me. I want to scream it from the rooftops - that is MY school!
So, to all GUS parents past and present, on behalf of all GUS students, thank you! We may not say thank you every day, but our GUS education shows up in who we choose to be each day of our lives.
CALLING ALL ALUMNI
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