Growing up in Holly Springs, Mississippi, Mary Vaughn didn’t have an ice rink in her small town, so she had to travel across state lines to be able to skate. Today, Vaughn is a leader in the figure skating community.
Vaughn serves as an elected member of the U.S. Figure Skating Coaches Council, as well as the Learn to Skate USA® director and the Aspire director at the Louisville Skating Academy in Louisville, Kentucky.
“I started skating when I was 5 years old,” she said. “My family would often travel to Memphis and the ‘happening’ place at the time was the Mall of Memphis, which had an ice rink. I became fascinated with the mall skaters.”
Vaughn began taking lessons, which led to skating competitively. As a young athlete, she represented the Figure Skating Club of Memphis. After competing for 10 years, Vaughn stepped aside when she was accepted into the prestigious Mississippi School for Mathematics and Science. Academics became Vaughn’s focus in the years following, earning her bachelor of arts degree from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and her master’s of education from the University of Louisville…