Tara Connelly earned her Masters in Education at Pacific University in Oregon under the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program. She is currently an educator in the Greater Boston area teaching project-based learning including a collaborative community-themed elective where students are building donation and gardening programs and she teaches 8th grade math. With experience bridging creative, hands-on education and real-world application (such as contributing to MIT BLOSSOMS as a project-based learning teacher and program manager), she brings a passion for innovative, student-centered design thinking to interdisciplinary challenges. As a participant in the MIT Morningside Academy for Design (MIT MAD) program, Tara is excited to explore design's role in education, creativity, and positive impact, drawing on her practical classroom expertise to collaborate across fields and advance human-centered approaches.