Krista Sabados
When I enrolled in Columbia College in 2000, I expected to graduate with an Associates Degree and perhaps transfer to a California State University (If I was lucky). As a low-income, first generation student, I had limited expectations of what it meant to “move up” in society. At the time, changing jobs from Taco Bell to clothing retail seemed like a huge professional leap. My involvement in Ted and Paula’s courses dramatically shifted my personal, professional, and academic expectations and aspirations. I began to see education as more than just a pathway to a better job. Their courses fueled me with passion and equipped me with the critical thinking skills to become an effective social change agent.
Eager to explore the role of education in promoting student transformation, I transferred from Columbia to UC Santa Cruz where I earned a B.A. in Sociology and wrote an award-winning thesis exploring the educational experiences of other low-income community college transfer students. During this time, Paula and Ted continued to serve as my mentors. The “learning how to learn” skills that I acquired as their student and their mentoring and support were significant factors in my success.
After gradating from UCSC, I served as an AmeriCorps VISTA and later as a fulltime staff at College Summit, a national nonprofit partnering with high school districts to prepare students for college. I then moved on to earn an Ed.M. at the Harvard Graduate School of Education where I studied topics such as the role of education in promoting adult development, civic engagement, and professionalism. Around this time, I had the opportunity to work with a number of organizations to support their efforts to capture student success beyond traditional measures (such as graduation and attainment rates) and explore deeper questions around authentic student learning and community-wide social change. For example, I was selected as an Education Pioneer, a prestigious education leadership program, to help an early childhood nonprofit with data collection and analysis methods that take into account the efforts and outcomes of Boston’s multifaceted and diverse early childhood service landscape. I also engaged in research and data analysis as a research consultant for the Washington Center for the Advancement of Undergraduate Education and as a research assistant at the Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Project Zero.
Currently, I am working with educators throughout the country as YouthBuild USA’s education resource manager. In this role, I support instructors, leadership, and student support staff at over 270 local GED programs, alternative high schools, and charter schools by designing and delivering conferences trainings, onsite workshops, E-Learning modules, and webinars. The topics I cover include critical thinking instruction, designing project-based curriculum, partnering with postsecondary institutions, and preparing students for postsecondary education.
College Graduate Travels Rough Path - News Article
UC Santa Cruz Sociology Department