Ms. Ayers is the Service-Learning Specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education’s Youth Development Branch where she oversees Maryland’s ground breaking service-learning graduation requirement. Ms. Ayers completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Arts in English and American Literature. Ms. Ayers’ work with service-learning combines her loves of education, youth empowerment, and civic action. She’s taught at the Florida Institute of Technology and been an adjunct instructor at Loyola College of Maryland. She has also worked in the Maryland non-profit poverty solutions sector and was responsible for developing the Kids Helping Kids anti-hunger curriculum. Ms. Ayers has created many publications supporting, and several articles on, Maryland's service-learning program. She also helped launch in 1992, and continues to facilitate, a master teacher program called Maryland Service-Learning Fellows in an effort to develop local resources and leaders in this field.