This instructor knows gratitude
Posted: May 25, 2019
Stephanie McGrath has held many roles at Personal Best Karate as an instructor these past 20 years, but her most important teaching role for the students came from what she learned off the mat.
McGrath’s Personal Best story started before elementary school. She joined Personal Best Karate in Foxborough when she was three-years-old – her older brother had joined at five and she had tagged along. She took classes for a few years, then needed to stop as her family’s personal life hit some speed bumps.
McGrath, who has three brothers, experienced some tough times growing up. For a while, her family was homeless, bouncing back and forth living at friends’ houses, camp grounds and community housing. Although she was young, she remembers the hard times they were facing. Luckily, they were gifted a trailer and were settled for a little while. Then in 2004 when McGrath was 10, Habitat for Humanity built a house for her family in Norton.