Samantha Sencer-Mura

Samantha Sencer-Mura is a Minneapolis native who became passionate about closing the educational opportunity gap after her time as a student in the Minneapolis Public Schools, where she witnessed deep inequities within the system. She earned her BA in Critical Theory and Social Justice from Occidental College, and her master’s in School Leadership at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Since 2017, she has been the Executive Director of Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute, a non-profit youth writing center that serves over 2,000 Twin Cities students in grades K-12 annually. Mid-Continent Oceanographic Institute is a chapter-in-development of 826 National, a network of creative writing centers with chapters in eight major cities.