From Wolf Point, Montana to classrooms around the world, Rocky Mountain College alumna Maria Munro-Schuster has built a career rooted in compassion, curiosity, and the belief that education can change lives.

After earning her B.A. in Elementary Education from Rocky Mountain College, Maria followed her passion for meaningful, community-based learning abroad, teaching Shakespeare in rural India. There, she witnessed the first entire class of Dalit students graduate and attend university, an experience that shaped her understanding of how deeply purpose and belonging influence learning.

Maria returned to Montana to teach for over a decade with a renewed commitment to place-based education and later pursued graduate work in English and Counseling. Her research explored how writing, mental health, and transitional spaces, like universities, impact student well-being.

Today, Maria is a counselor at her practice Mango Beetle Counseling in Bozeman, a national presenter, and the author of the new book The Empathetic Classroom: How a Mental Health Mindset Supports Your Students—And You.