Meet Coach Mac

  1. Updates

Lauren McGuire, aka Coach Mac, is Playworks Pennsylvania’s Coach of the Month.  She is a first year AmeriCorps coach at Kearny Elementary School.  Coach Mac has been incredibly consistent, organized, and committed during her first month of school.  She shows up to school everyday with a great attitude and is constantly evaluating her program in order to make improvements.  

Kearny Elementary School is a 2nd year Playworks school.  The school is currently going through many changes.  There is a new principal, a new playground, and new additions to the building.  Coach Mac has quickly connected with school employees.  She has befriended many school staff and they are constantly working together to improve the school culture and the Plaworks program at Kearny.  

Coach Mac is highly engaged with the Kearny Home and School Association.  She is working with school staff and parents to create a highly engaged and interactive parent volunteer group.  Recently, Coach Mac has begun to recruit and engage students in her after school clubs.  In addition to running after school clubs, Coach Mac is running a successful before school recess program where many of her students arrive early to engage in play.  The principal has already acknowledged the decrease in student tardiness at the school!

Lauren is an avid lover of tyrannosaurus rexes, the University of Notre Dame, dogs, and awesome arts and crafts.  She loves the sunshine clap and has been known to lift very heavy things from time-to-time (former power-lifter).

Coach Mac has been a great addition to the Playworks community and she is already making large impacts on her school community.  For all these reasons and more, Coach Mac is Playworks Pennsylvania’s coach of the month!

More Updates


January 10, 2023

Understanding the Complex Simplicities of Play ›

Play is a behavior that is natural and has existed for thousands of years and across species. It combines a set of made-up rules or norms and a willingness to…

three people with Playworks shirts
three people with Playworks shirts

July 28, 2022

A year of social and emotional learning ›

“You can’t do SEL, trauma, or equity work without each other,” Jennette Claassen, Head of Evaluation, Playworks. As Playworks continued to progress on our equity journey, we explored a critical…

August 24, 2021

Playworks Founder Jill Vialet Publishes ‘Why Play Works’ ›

Play brings out the best in every kid. Over the course of 25 years since Jill Vialet founded Playworks, she and her colleagues, as well as researchers and play experts,…