Bridget Murphy

Bridget Murphy grew up in Northbrook, Illinois. She moved to Logan Square and is currently a parent organizer for Logan Square Neighborhood Association. Bridget is one of the many heroes working to make Logan Square a better community. She is positive, intelligent, and caring. She is White American. She is happily married and currently 7 months pregnant. Bridget and her husband are having a boy. They are still undecided on the baby’s name. She wants to have more kids in the future, but she wants to learn what it takes to be a good parent first. Bridget wants to make the community a better place for her and other people’s children.

Bridget’s work in the community is parent organizing. She works with many schools including Mozart Elementary School. “They have over 30 parent mentors, so parents who volunteer in school is a huge help, especially with kids,” said Bridget. She had parent mentors in her class when she was a child. She encourages parents to volunteer in school because she knows how good of a thing it is. Bridget is caring about her work. She believes parent engagement is important. “It can change Chicago Public Schools to welcome parents and get them involved,” she said. Bridget wants to improve CPS. People like her should be considered heroes.

Everybody has their own definition of a hero. Heroes do not necessarily need to be cartoons who save the world from evil like most children believe. Bridget Murphy has a different idea of a hero. “A hero is someone who is not afraid to stand up for what they believe in, even if it’s something that nobody else is doing,” she said. She believes a real hero is a leader and doesn’t follow what everyone else does. Bridget’s hero is Katie, her older sister. Katie was a good role model, smart, and compassionate. She’s a newspaper reporter and writes about education issues. Bridget looks up to her and feels proud every time she sees one of her articles. Katie and a few other people inspire her.

Inspiration comes in different ways. One of Bridget’s sources of inspiration is youth leaders at Kelvyn Park High School. They help the school be a better learning environment. Teachers in general also inspire her. “Teachers are brave and hard workers,” she said. Her husband is a teacher at Farragut High School. He teaches history. Bridget enjoyed her high school years.

Bridget has her own insights on high school. She went to Glenbrook North High School. “The classes were fun,” she said. She found after-school programs to be the best part of it. Bridget joined a lot of clubs and groups. She was on the swim team, newspaper, and choir. “The more you seek after good opportunities the more your education experience will be good,” said Bridget.

Bridget Murphy is a positive, intelligent, and caring person. She motivated me to want to join after-school programs next year. I used to think that it was a waste of time. After interviewing her, it made me want to make my high school experience fun. I learned that CPS really needs to be improved. There aren’t enough parents involved. Bridget is working on improving CPS and making the community a better place.