Liberty Legacies: Mackenzie Murphy

Some Liberty alumni have gone to many places to find a career path in life. Mackenzie Murphy has been all around the country finding her passion in life. After graduating from Liberty, she went to attend St. Louis University in biology.

“I thought I wanted to pursue a biomedical path, but within my first couple years, I determined that my true passion was in conservation biology,” Murphy said.

Murphy went through many internships and ended up going to Wyoming doing interpretation and education at Devils Tower National Monument.

She also went to Arizona studying wildlife at Petrified Forest National Park.

However, after college she moved to Northern California to conduct owl surveys for a logging company.

“I figured out that I love science and the natural world, but if I can’t share that love, it’s not enough for me,” Murphy said.

She ended up moving to Colorado, working through AmeriCorps as a field instructor at an outdoor science school. The wilderness lab allows the sixth graders of the local district to come and learn.

“We bring them to our campus in the Unaweep Canyon, where they stay for three days and two nights, living and learning in the outdoors,” Murphy explains.

Murphy helps these kids live and learn in this beautiful area.

“It is truly remarkable to watch these kids transform as they connect deeply with themselves, each other, and the natural world around them,” Murphy expressed.

Murphy has earned her environmental educator certification in Colorado and plans to pursue a career in environmental education.

Murphy says English class had one of the biggest impacts on her. One lesson that truly inspired her was from the novel “Of Mice and Men.” A line that has stuck with her all this time is, “The best laid plans of mice and men oft go awry.” Murphy says she learned to not have a step by step plan and learned to let her life go awry.