Unexpected Path
As a child growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, Susan Moriarty was first introduced to the YMCA when her parents enrolled her in swimming lessons at the age of four. You could say that began her love for swimming and the Y. But after completing college, the Y was the last place she thought she’d be working. But somehow her Dad knew better.
“I never dreamed the Y would be a career,” said Moriarty, who celebrated 45 years with the organization in 2024. “But my Dad, who was a lifetime Y member, always said I was destined to work at the Y.”
We sat down with Susan after this year’s Youth in Government conferences to learn more about her nearly half century with our Y.
Susan and her family spent their summers at the pool. Always the strong swimmer, she received her lifeguarding certificate at the age of 15. The following summer she got a job lifeguarding at Crockett Springs Country Club – the long-forgotten pool and tennis club that was the place to be.
It was the 1970s and sunscreen still did not have much of a presence. Suntan lotion and zinc oxide were popular but 16-year-old redheads – with blue eyes and freckles – needed a lot more protection from the sun.
That led her to the Southwest YMCA, currently known as the Green Hills Family YMCA. The Y had a semi-covered pool and Moriarty spent the next eight summers lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons to hundreds of people of all ages, from infants to seniors.
The plan was to go into hotel management but after returning home from UT Knoxville the only hotel jobs were the graveyard shifts. About that same time the now Brentwood YMCA was opening its doors and working the front desk seemed like as good a place as any to wait for the dream job.
She enjoyed the front desk and worked her way into the membership director position. While at the Brentwood Y, Moriarty held a number of roles. In 1993 she was asked to take over the Aquatics program as well as become the Youth and Family Director. Moriarty loved being back in aquatics and working with seniors and the parent/child program but was hesitant to take over the Teen Leaders Club. But she did and little did she know how that club would change her life.
The small club continued to grow and in 1995, under the guidance of Moriarty and the Y leadership, developed a plan for the Margaret Burnett Turner YMCA Teen Center at the Brentwood YMCA. The leaders met with architects and donors, selected the paint colors and presented the plans to the Brentwood City Commission. The groundbreaking took place in November of 1996 and the center opened in July 1997.
That same year Moriarty agreed to accompany the St. Cecilia delegation to the YMCA Youth in Government (YIG) program when the school advisor had a conflict.
The school told the students, “if you find someone the Y approves and who we approve, then you can attend.” And it was Moriarty’s younger sister, who happened to be one of those St. Cecilia Academy students at the time, who convinced her to help.
That was in 1993; and, in subsequent years, Moriarty continued to volunteer with Youth in Government and Model United Nations amidst holding other full-time roles at the Y.
In 1997 Moriarty was approached by Clark Baker to develop a youth version of Leadership Nashville. Susan was named the Executive Director, and the inaugural class included 40 students from 16 Davidson County Schools.
Then, in 2002 she was named Executive Director of the Tennessee YMCA Center for Civic Engagement (CCE) – a role she has now held for 24 years.
The journey continues
Her work engages thousands of students from across Tennessee exposing them to the innerworkings of local, state and international government as well as the importance of civic engagement.
Moriarty said, “We are constantly evolving and changing, and the program continues to grow by leaps and bounds.
"Whether I’m in the State Capitol or in the midst of hundreds of students at Model United Nations, I can’t help but think of one of my favorite quotes by Mark Victor Hansen: 'Do what you love to do, and do it so well that those who come to see you do it will bring others to watch you do it again and again and again.'”
Moriarty holds a career record with the YMCA of Middle Tennessee with her 45 years of service.