Mary Helen has an intuitive understanding of youth of all ages. She brings her rare combination of creative passion, perseverance, and volunteer experience with youth to a variety of educational settings and to her life’s work, which is dedicated to youth empowerment.  Her methodologies are centered in service learning, hands-on learning, and community connection.  She was invited to sit on the Minnesota Department of Education Teachers Service-Learning steering committee, was sponsored to attend national service-learning conferences, and has developed programs for integrating service learning in schools and youth groups.  She also brought her work to Sonoma State University. Community service has always been the hands-on model for her work. She believes that by helping others, young people enrich their own lives. It is also the perfect learning ground to develop job skills, as well as life’s soft skills, empathy, and self-awareness.

Mary Helen believes youth are our greatest resource and gives them voice, tools, and understanding to believe and trust in themselves through real-world experiences. Creating and testing their ideas for career and workforce readiness has helped thousands of youth. 

Her vision, and work, spans four decades. It includes founding her own start-up, Spark-Y: Youth Action Labs, a nonprofit social enterprise venture to empower youth. As the founder, she was the original executive director and served as a board member for 10 years. Spark-Y: Youth Action Labs (www.spark-y.org), based in Minneapolis, MN, is still growing strong and engaging youth with amazing projects in STEM, for self-growth and civic engagement. The organization’s leadership includes the first youth members involved in the organization – the first youth she hired. The thriving organization proves, in practice, all of Mary Helen’s insights, methodologies and words to inspire and empower youth to positively engage with society. Activate’s workbook includes these same methods. Youth working with their peers is an important ingredient in the model’s secret sauce.  

Mary Helen puts heart and creative energy into all her projects. Activate is her current entrepreneurial education venture in the youth empowerment and career readiness education space. She is extremely passionate about the urgent need to help youth in these uncertain times, and sincerely hopes it will bring value to youth globally.