Early in my career I worked with children and teens in many capacities, including as a foster care caseworker, residential care worker, and wilderness-based youth therapy counselor. I have served seven years at La Vereda, a community-centered non-profit, including a year as president. I have done extensive research on the topic of education and my employment has primarily been in higher education. My experience in mediation, both formal and informal, has been family disputes (though I am not currently qualified to mediate divorce cases), community disputes, and disputes related to public schools and higher education. I speak conversational level Spanish.