NAME: SARAH TESSLER
HOMETOWN: WESTON, CONNECTICUT
It’s time to meet our first fellow from the Jamaica office! Meet Sarah, a recent graduate of Tufts University with majors in both Spanish and Education.
As a member of the Training team, Sarah is very excited by the opportunity to creatively develop new trainings that are responsive to clients and their needs. As clients' needs and responsibilities are rapidly changing during this time, she finds it especially necessary to check in and understand how the training team can provide them with the tools they need to tackle these new challenges. Through her research, Sarah plans to utilize her passion and background in Spanish and Education. She specifically looks forward to understanding how skilled workers with limited English proficiency play a role in the workforce development system. She is interested in how this population possibly represents untapped human resources for addressing the skills gap in today's labor market.
A BOOK THAT HAS MADE AN IMPACT ON SARAH:
The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls
OUTSIDE OF WORK:
Sarah really enjoys baking! She specially loves sweet breads like babka or challah, and layer cakes with creative flavor combinations.
FAVORITE POEM:
Against Still Life by Margaret Atwood
This poem encapsulates what Sarah loves about human connection. She believes that “getting to know people is the foundation of life.”
Taken on Sarah’s study abroad trip to Spain
Sarah was first introduced to the study of education through a class her freshman year entitled "School & Society." It was the first academic space she encountered in which both she and her peers could unpack their various educational experiences and be able to better understand them through a critical and historical lens. It truly opened her perspective to the interconnected nature of income inequality, housing instability, and education inequity in the United States.
In 2017, Sarah had the opportunity to work as a Teaching Fellow for Breakthrough Greater Boston, a college access program for low-income students. Her work teaching writing to incoming 7th graders definitely allowed her to discover her love and passion for teaching and education. She really enjoyed being able to build a sense of community among her students and provide a safe place for learning. She also knew that while it was valuable and necessary to study the roots and effects of education inequity, she could not grasp the full picture until working directly with students. Sarah was drawn to this fellowship because of its direct service aspect, the space it would provide her to continue working with education, and the opportunity to better understand workforce development policy and its numerous effects on vulnerable populations. She believes that it is all connected; she says, “It's almost like I can look at the parent side of the children I hope to teach.”
Now that you’ve met some of our Work First Fellows, keep up with them! Follow Work First on Twitter and Facebook to support our work connecting people with jobs and researching innovative strategies to combat poverty.