Maddie was born and raised on the Southwest side of Chicago and is an alumnus of the Chicago Public Schools Student Advisory Council (SAC) at Mikva Challenge. Maddie first became passionate about youth advocacy and educational policy during her time at Mikva and through her career and technical education she received at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences. She received a Bachelors of Science in Crop Sciences from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Masters in Teaching from Relay Graduate School of Education.
Previous to joining the Mikva team, Maddie spent two years within Chicago Public Schools as a middle school teacher and completed fellowships at Chicago Public Schools’ Central Office, Leadership for Educational Equity, and the United States Department of Agriculture. It was her time in the classroom, specifically as a student voice program facilitator and civics educator that further solidified her passion for elevating youth voice in the civic arena.