Instructional Coach/Team Leader
South Bronx Early College Academy
After graduating with a Bachelor of Arts from SUNY New Paltz, Yarwood spent two years in New York City working as an actress. Although she still enjoyed performing, she was pulled toward service. She became highly interested in the vast inequities of our education system, particularly in high-poverty neighborhoods in New York City. Soon after, she pursued a Master of Arts in Theater Education at Emerson College in Boston. There she focused on integrating multicultural literature and educational philosophies into theater education.
Moving forward, and for the last 15 years, she has dedicated herself to teaching theater, English, and Humanities in various urban school settings in Boston and NYC. She has supported schools using restorative practices, mindfulness, and social-emotional learning. In addition to being a passionate middle school educator, Yarwood founded a small non-profit summer theater program for teen girls in 2014 called Shake It Out, Inc. In 2017 and 2018, she was fortunate to partner with the SUNY New Paltz Department of Theatre and Campus Auxiliary Services to run this program with girls from the Bronx and Brooklyn. Yarwood was awarded the SUNY New Paltz 40 Under 40 Award for this work in 2019.
As an educator and school leader, Yarwood prides herself on balancing empathy with high expectations and having a sense of humor. She enjoys focusing on building confidence and performance skills, as well as integrating literacy skills into her work. She understands that, at any level, the arts and antiracist education are vital to the development of young people and holds this close to all the work she does. One of the more critical lessons she learned when she studied acting at New Paltz, and what she tries to instill in her students, is the need for connection and learning as much as possible about others and ourselves. These early lessons are invaluable and will never leave her. In her free time, Yarwood enjoys yoga, exercising, and traveling. She has been happily married for almost 18 years and is the proud mother of two children.
