Miss Maria-Louise Cook
Instructor of Writing & Literature
A native Houstonian with brief jaunts to Wales, Norway, and Colorado, Maria earned her BA in English with a minor in Creative Writing from Houston Baptist University (now Houston Christian University). At HBU, Maria was an active member of the Honors College, and she was honored to receive the Most Outstanding Honors Freshman award as well as the President’s award for Most Outstanding Honors Graduate. Upon finishing university, she received the highest award for her major, Most Outstanding English Major Graduate, and the highest award for the Media Studies program, the Andre Bazin Award, in recognition of a student excelling in the study of film theory, history, and criticism.
During college, Maria worked as a writing tutor, was regularly asked to give lectures on reading and writing to the years below her, led Plato discussions during the Honors College’s freshman orientation week, and was a summer volunteer at Catholic Literary Arts. She began working in education administration in her sophomore year, and, post-graduation, has transitioned into full-time work in the field. Maria currently serves as an administrator at Upreach Learning, a non-profit educational start-up that sends tutors into public schools across Texas. She hopes to attend graduate school to study poetry and theology in the near future with the eventual goal of becoming a professor.
In her free time, Maria enjoys composing music, hiking, rock climbing, writing, and having four-hour-long conversations.
