My name is Mary-Dryden (MD for short) Maio and I’m excited to be TH’s Leadership Associate for 2022/23! I’m a fourth year student at UVA double majoring in Spanish Language and Latin American Studies. I’m passionate about international justice, especially concerning the continued negative effects of U.S. power in Latin America. I hope to be a high school Spanish teacher in the future to teach students about this history that I didn’t learn about until taking a gap year in the region before beginning at UVA.
TH, and Vintage Lunch especially, has provided a great place for me to stay connected with the faith during my time at UVA while in a deep period of doubt and questioning. I never found a home within a more traditional student fellowship, and have instead been nurtured by Karen Marsh, who is, as all who know her will tell you, a source of great hope and inspiration. Co-leading the Deeper Dialogues initiative has been especially formative in learning how to bridge justice and faith.
What do I plan on doing after I graduate? Well, you’re the first one to ask me that! I’ve decided I will tell each person something different about my post-college plans, each one slightly less believable than the last; perhaps I will get my M.Ed. in Spanish, return to the mission where I was during my gap year, volunteer with the Peace Corps, go to the moon…I guess we’ll all have to wait and see!