Empowering Students On and Off the Field

Just months after commencement, Devin O’Brien ’12 moved from New York to Memphis, Tenn., to begin his career with Teach for America, a program designed to place recent college graduates in underserved schools.

He was quickly exposed to students’ lack of resources and opportunities, which led him to cofound a grassroots nonprofit, Memphis Inner City Rugby (MICR), dedicated to closing the opportunity gap, creating a relentlessly supportive community, and driving upward mobility in under-resourced communities.

“I’ve always been a bit of an activist in my heart,” O’Brien said. “It made me, in general, more committed to using my life to help people who don’t get the help they deserve.”

O’Brien’s advocacy for more compassion and empathy in humanity was kick-started in Memphis but has continued through his career and into his current nonprofit role.

Soon after O’Brien graduated from Colby, Teach for America placed him in an inner-city school in Memphis, where he immediately understood the realities of his students. “I was struck by my first real experience with generational poverty and underserved schools,” O’Brien recalled.

Students lacked resources and supportive programs, and many came to class hungry, behind in their grade level, or dealing with hardships outside the classroom. O’Brien’s eye-opening introduction to systemic inequality solidified his motivation to support his students.

As MICR’s reputation grew, so did its support. The organization hired its first full-time employee in 2017. Today, the nonprofit organization has a staff of six full-time employees.

What began as two teachers and a handful of kids on a field turned into a thriving organization with a dedicated staff, board of directors, and community of volunteers. A decade later, the program O’Brien cofounded has become a driving force, reaching hundreds of students and opening doors that once seemed impossible.

“It’s hard work because it’s human work,” said O’Brien. “It’s messy, and it’s the challenge of trying to uplift a person past obstacles.”

Students who joined the rugby teams soon became mentors and coaches. “What’s been most gratifying is that 70 percent of our staff are alumni of the program,” O’Brien said. “It’s kids who have graduated and returned to get their first part-time jobs. They make that community richer because they want to participate and take ownership of it.”

After two years of teaching, O’Brien left Memphis and returned to New York to manage a brewery in Brooklyn while continuing to work remotely on the rugby club. He spent two weeks one summer with Reality Israel, which provides opportunities for Teach for America corps members to experience Israel and build connections. The opportunity ultimately helped expand O’Brien’s knowledge of discrepancies in educational opportunities.

Through that community, he was connected with the founder of Harlem Lacrosse, Simon Cataldo, and jumped at the chance to take over the director’s role. The New York school-based nonprofit uses lacrosse to change the life trajectories of youth through daily wrap-around academic support, mentoring, leadership training, college readiness, career exploration, admissions counseling, and lacrosse instruction.

“I feel it’s important to stay rooted in the inequities and the issues in our world,” O’Brien stated. “I try to use whatever skills and resources I have to advocate for what I think is right, and that guided me through transitions.”
After a few years learning how to run a larger-scale, grassroots nonprofit such as Harlem Lacrosse, he returned to Memphis to help complete MICR’s transition from a grassroots organization to an operating nonprofit.

“It’s been the most fulfilling to step back,” O’Brien stated. “I am on the MICR board now, and I don’t do much day to day. The kids, parents, and schools have taken ownership of it, which was always the hope, and that’s the coolest part.”

O’Brien’s experience motivated him to build his career around uplifting others through nonprofit work. Today, he is the director of impact at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, N.Y., at the National Register Historic Site of the 1969 Woodstock Festival. In this role, he leads the development and execution of strategies to advance their mission to make the world a better place through the power of music and the arts.

In addition to his role at Bethel Woods, O’Brien took on the interim director position for the Academy at Bethel Woods, a new year-round after-school music and visual arts program aimed at serving high-need area schools and creating new pathways to creative futures.

O’Brien continues his mission to improve humanity, this time, through music, design, and the creative arts. “Art is important and inherent in our human experience,” he said. “Music and art are universal languages.”

Originally from Croton-on-Hudson, N.Y., O’Brien spent his first year at Colby trying to find meaning in life. It was at Colby that he first discovered the power of connection, expressing yourself, and leadership through experiences like rugby, COOT, and learning creative skills during his documentary, poetry, and creative writing courses to graduate with a degree in psychology.

These experiences helped prepare him to build communities, amplify youth voices, and challenge the systems that hold people back.

“I had many formative experiences at Colby that I was lucky to have,” O’Brien said. “It inspired me to pay forward.”