Cohort 9
Grace Helms Kotre EDUCATION • Master of Social Work, Community Organizing University of Michigan • B.S. in Human Development and Family Studies UW-Madison
ENROLLED • Cohort 9
LOCATION • Ann Arbor, Mich.
Grace Helms Kotre (she/her) is a mama, a social justice educator, and a lifelong seeker. Her core values are love and justice. These values inform her personal and professional life. They guide her pedagogy as an adjunct instructor of social work at the University of Michigan as she attempts to co-create equity-centered spaces where collective care is inherent in classroom culture. These values also inspire Grace’s activism as she works on academic committees and in community spaces for just policies and practices in our institutions and beyond. Grace believes a sustainable vision for the future is one that centers love and justice. Her primary passion is racial healing through healing justice: practicing radical wellbeing for ourselves as we work to promote radical wellbeing for others. This is a sustainable approach to social change, and it is what drew Grace to the field of Educational Sustainability. As a cis-hetero white woman, she has made many mistakes, been transformed through intergroup experiences, and knows she will be a forever learner. She is motivated to keep going by people who kept going like bell hooks, Thich Nhat Hanh, and her own ancestors. Grace has had a daily mindfulness meditation practice since 2009 and is a Certified Mindfulness Instructor. She engages in other contemplative practices to nourish self-awareness, regulation, and compassion. She practices joy on purpose as self and collective care. She believes we belong to each other, and none of us is free until all of us are free.
UW-Stevens Point
78
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