Meet the Team – Meghan Welch

Meghan Welch is a PhD Fellow at Best Practices and has been with the team since 2011. Her areas of interest and study include child development, digital literacies, and issues of equitable access around participatory digital practices  Quite often, she helps facilitate WSO training.  If you’ve viewed a BP webinar or podcast the past few years, she probably had a hand in it.

Before joining BP, she majored in Film and Television at the University of Notre Dame. She was drawn to media because, in her own words, “[she] saw how powerful it was, not only in my own life, but also the influence it had on the young children I worked with – babysitting, camps, etc”. While in graduate school at the Erikson Institute, she studied child development and media and during the program was able to intern at a PBS station and see how research-based programming could positively impact cognitive and social/emotional development.  After graduating with a Masters degree in child development and moving back home to Atlanta, she realized she wanted to go back to school and began her PhD program at Georgia State while also working at Georgia Public Broadcasting.

What do you like most about working at BP or what drew you/attracted you to working at BP?
I really like how BP works with teachers all across the state. Being able to meet and talk to people from all over and hear what they are doing in their classrooms is really interesting. I also really enjoy the staff at BP. I have learned so much from the people in the department.

What is your favorite children’s book?  What makes it most appealing to you?
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst. I think I like it so much because I have such strong memories of my mom reading it to me and thinking that it was just so funny. Alexander could not catch a break! I loved the illustrations, especially the expressions on his face. I’m thinking now that I also related to Alexander because I am a middle child and felt like I was always drawing the short straw.  Even now, I’ll reference “putting on my train pajamas”  (the PJs that Alexander hated) if things are just not going my way. It lightens my mood.

If you have to dress and leave in a hurry what is the one thing you can easily cut out of your routine?
So, I have three, young boys at home. I am always dressing and leaving in a hurry. Sadly, blow-drying my hair is the first luxury to go when pressed for time. I wear the pulled-back look 6 out of 7 days.

What would you do if you won the lottery?
I think about this quite a bit! For fun, let’s pretend I win the MegaMillions – no chump-change-tiny-jackpot, please. I would buy brand new cars for people this Christmas (let me know what you want), I would take friends on crazy fun vacations, I think I might buy a professional sports team for my husband (why not?), give big chunks of cash to my family members, and then start a charitable foundation with the billions that are left over.

What would you sing at Karaoke night?  Why?
I like singing “Can’t Fight this Feeling” by REO Speedwagon. It’s easy to sing and almost every time it starts, people groan but then end up belting it out with me. You can’t help but sing along.

Do you like or dislike surprises? Why or why not?
Surprises are really fun! Especially when you have ZERO idea they are coming.