“Don’t shy away from new things because you never know what new gained experiences will advance you in your career or help you achieve your life goals.”
Kiara Sogren (they/them)
Graduated: 2023, Cohort 25
From: Astoria, Queens
Current Position: Food Justice Instructor, Center for Family Life
Our mission is to promote positive outcomes for children and adults in Sunset Park through the provision of a comprehensive range of neighborhood-based family and social services. Sunset Park is a densely populated, low-income neighborhood with a large percentage of recent immigrants. As such, the Center offers access to resources that families need to thrive, including family counseling, cultural, educational, and recreational programs at neighborhood public schools, adult and youth employment programs, and an emergency storefront for food and advocacy. In partnership with our community, we provide opportunities for personal development, enrich neighborhood residents’ quality of life, and nurture relationships that sustain families and support youth in becoming confident, capable adults.
Tell us about your current role and daily responsibilities.
“[As] a food justice instructor for an afterschool program in Sunset Park, I create lessons empowering students to cook, grow their own food, practice sustainability, and give back to their community. I also help organize events for the program to involve the families and community.
A typical work day may involve coming in before programming starts to collaborate on lesson plans for upcoming weeks with my co-teacher. I attend lead and specialist meetings weekly to discuss updates and upcoming events. I help keep an eye on participants in the cafeteria before going to our classroom to set up for the day’s lesson. In a day, I typically teach 2 classes with my co-teacher and 1 class by myself. I also attend all staff meetings after programming ends.”
Describe your career pathway. How has your GCF experience helped you?
“I have lots of teaching and instructing experience. In high school I would take up a lot of roles that involved giving presentations and running mini lessons. When I was in robotics club, I ran a few lessons for middle schoolers as well as high schoolers from other schools. I’ve always felt drawn to teaching and mentoring, and I’ve always loved lesson planning.
The summer after I graduated high school, I worked as a summer intern teaching STEM remotely to middle schoolers. I gained more lesson planning experience and also remote teaching experience. After dropping out from college due to lack of direction, I took my ample experience and passion for teaching and lesson planning and applied to be an after-school instructor. I became an after-school instructor at a shelter during the school year. At the end of school year programming, I was offered a summer position to be a group leader for a school in the network. I took the opportunity and worked that summer. I applied to be an instructor at that school when the school year would start again. I got the position, but unfortunately I would lose that position months later. I still gained more skills for classroom management and learned that teaching and working with the youth is something I’m really passionate about. While it was difficult and unfortunate timing, I tried to keep the momentum with hopes that I’d be able to teach again. I worked in retail to keep money coming in, and I eventually came across GCF.
GCF has helped me gain skills in agriculture and knowledge in food justice and sustainability that I was able to directly transfer into my current position. Working with volunteers on my sites also gave me confidence that I could teach others these skills. I also had the opportunity to lock in on my next steps with the assistance of Career Services. That helped me stay focused.”
What advice do you have for current Corps Members and other Alumni?
“Try to get the most you can out of your service term. Don’t shy away from new things because you never know what new gained experiences will advance you in your career or help you achieve your life goals. Learn from others and expand your worldview (aka network). Have a goal. It could be anything – for me it was moving out and being able to support myself. Never lose sight of what you’re really working towards, it will make that hard work a lot easier.”
Achievements at GCF:
“I got the opportunity to publicly speak advocating for Take Down the Stacks in Ravenswood [as a Ravenswood resident]. I was awarded [GCF’s] The Force award as well as the Timothy Bradley scholarship.”
What’s your favorite GCF memory?
“The Earth Day events were great, especially the Astoria one. It was great seeing the community come out and celebrate at the farm. I’ve never really felt all that close to my community, but GCF gave me the opportunity to build that relationship through something I’m passionate about.”
GRADUATION TESTIMONY:
“When I saw the flyer for GCF, I was going through a tough time. I was shocked to see something like this offered in my community. I couldn’t pass up the opportunity. I’m glad that throughout all the hardships it was an enriching experience. I’ve always been passionate about sustainability and was glad to see people of my demographic involved in the green sector. I’ve done things I never thought I’d have the opportunity to do and have gotten to see the natural world through a new pair of eyes. I have a newfound confidence in my independence and knowledge that I can’t wait to share with others.”
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