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Seattle Central Alumni Magazine

Ray Morales (‘99) promised his mother he would earn an associate degree. Despite having “zero interest” in higher education, Ray earned two master’s degrees, one from an Ivy League, and is now in school administration.

We write about three Seattle Central grads who couldn’t get enough of the college and returned as faculty or staff. Meet the Full Circle Crew : Helena Ribeiro (‘00), Dr. Pat Russell (‘86), and Rebecca Johnston (‘16).

Five years ago, we profiled a few promising students who represent the best of Seattle Central. Catch up with Camila Christensen (‘21) and Albert Smalls (‘21) and see how they’re doing after graduating.

Presenting the Commencement speaker from the Class of 2024. Brian Arreola (‘24) thought his academic career had ended, but in true Good Will Hunting fashion, he’s earned an associate of science degree and is ready for life’s next challenges.

Just inside the entrance of Chief Sealth International High School, Principal Ray Morales calls down the hall to one of the students. Morales meets him halfway for a high five, and then turns to his left to catch a fist bump from another student before the final bell rings for class.

When asked what he does to be successful at work, Morales has a simple answer: he shows up. Every day. To Morales, showing up is not just about physical presence, but about bringing the right mentality and passion to whatever he does.

Seattle Central alum Ray Morales (‘99) has attended almost every kind of institution one could think of, from a public high school, to a community college, to an Ivy League. Now, he’s the principal of a high school in the same city he grew up in. Whether he’s a student or in administration, Morales brings a fierce commitment to inclusivity, a passion for building community, and a dedication towards his roots. Morales models his work ethic after his parents. “I think anybody who knows my parents can speak to their work ethic and their dedication to making sure that things are done well, things are done right, that they’re done on time, that they’re done with love as well,” he explained. “It’s not just a matter of clocking in, clocking out, there’s love and passion attached to it.”

“It’s not just a matter of clocking in, clocking out, there’s love and passion attached to it.”

Ray Morales (‘99): Lifelong Seattleite, Tiger alum, Ivy League grad, and principal at Chief Sealth HS

Morales’s parents came from families of migrant farmers, who first settled in Eastern Washington before moving to Seattle. After graduating from the University of Washington in the mid-70s, Morales’s mom taught elementary and middle school. She was the only one of her 12 siblings to pursue higher education. Morales’s dad, a skilled machinist who built truck parts for over 30 years, was born with congenital hearing loss and was fully deaf by 16. He never learned ESL, but became a proficient lip reader in both Spanish and English.

When his parents first moved to the city, there weren’t many Latinos in the Seattle area. That didn’t stop them from instilling in their children deep values of family, heritage, and culture.

“You had to carve out your corner to stay connected to your culture,” Morales explained. “We always stayed connected and rooted. We didn’t always see that reflected in our community, but home was a safe space,” he added.

“It wasn’t until Seattle Central that I actually felt a connection to what I was learning.”

Education was important in the Morales family, and he credits his parents for balancing traditional education with valuable life experiences outside the classroom. Much of this supplemental education came from family vacations — from road trips around the United States to extensive visits to Mexico to explore, visit family, and better understand their culture. In just a three-week trip, Morales would experience everything from the vibrant bustle of Mexico City to the most rural ranchos out in Michoacan to the beaches of Acapulco.

What Morales loved most about attending Garfield High School was its strong sense of community. He is friends with many of his classmates to this day, and his favorite former teacher is now a colleague at Chief Sealth. “One thing that I can say with some certainty is that I stayed true to myself, stayed focused, and graduated on time,” Morales said. “I think that was a huge accomplishment.”

After graduating high school in 1995, Morales started looking into options for college. “I think one of the things that was important to me was just being in a familiar space, being with people I felt comfortable with,” he explained. Seattle Central was just up the block and many of his former classmates from Garfield also attended. The transition couldn’t have been more natural — but it couldn’t have been more surprising either.

For the first time, Morales was surrounded by countless students — and instructors — who looked like him. “I was one of very few Latinos at Garfield at the time, which was never really an issue, but there were just a lot more Latinos at Seattle Central, and I really appreciated that,” Morales said.

Morales was excited by Seattle Central’s diversity in general. He was particularly inspired by the professors who shared cultural connections with the content they taught, like Dr. David Quintero, who introduced Morales to impactful Latin American literature.

“It wasn’t until Seattle Central that I actually felt a connection to what I was learning,” Morales explained. Each quarter bolstered his confidence and emboldened him to step outside his comfort zone.

“Seattle Central opened my eyes that higher education can be what you make of it.”

He enrolled in courses he never thought to pursue before, like ethnic studies, theater, and astronomy. Morales even took two poetry classes — just because he could. “I made a book of poetry for my mom,” he shared. “I legit forgot about this until she reminded me of it just a month ago. She sent me a picture of the cover of the book, and I was like, wow, that’s pretty cool that she saved it.”

After graduating from Seattle Central in 1999, Morales spent a few years uninspired in the corporate world. Morales’s friend — a fellow Seattle Central alum — had a hunch that Morales would excel at working with young people and offered him a position as program coordinator at a nonprofit focused on raising political and social consciousness in high school students.

“That’s when it clicked for me,” Morales reflected. “That experience I had working with the nonprofit in the Central District, it was then that I figured out that maybe I wanted to be in education.”

Morales enrolled in the University of Washington’s social welfare program, where he quickly realized that he was in the right sector. “I was super studious, and I took my classes seriously,” he explained. “Something that I did well at that time was I just listened, read the room, and absorbed information.”

After graduating from UW in 2004, Morales decided to apply for master’s programs in social work. He only applied to UW and Columbia and got into both. Morales decided to step further outside of his comfort zone than he had ever gone — and moved to New York after living in Seattle his entire life.

Morales’s time in New York, including interning as a social worker in high schools in the Bronx, allowed him to learn from experienced educators and expand his understanding of the impact he could have in administration.

Morales carried the values and experiences he amassed in the Bronx with him all the way back to Seattle, where he returned in 2009 to attend a three-year evening program at Seattle University in educational administration. During and after the program, Morales worked as a social worker and as a principal-in-training at various Seattle high schools, including 6 years as assistant principal at Cleveland High School.

Morales and his wife had an ongoing joke that he would eventually become principal at Chief Sealth. He spent formative years in West Seattle and had recently moved back it was perfect. When former principal Aida Fraser-Hammer retired in 2021, he had to apply. “And now here I am,” he said.

Principal Morales is focused on promoting inclusivity and creating a safe and equitable educational environment for students. He believes in being present and accessible — especially in the wake of the pandemic and remote learning — and in building individual relationships with staff and students alike.

“I want students to feel safe, and I know that there’s a lot of societal factors and forces at play that make that difficult, but I’m up for the challenge and I really am passionate about wanting to be here in this building,” Morales explained. “I live in this community, my kids go to school in this community, and this is where I am whether I’m the principal here or not.”

Morales is grateful for the patience and support he received at Seattle Central College, which provided him with the foundation to be successful in his subsequent academic and professional endeavors.

“Seattle Central was a hub of learning, a community. And I appreciated that because that’s what I need and look for today,” he said.

“Seattle Central opened my eyes that higher education can be what you make of it.”

Scan for more of Ray’s story

Inever wanted to be a teacher. In fact, I really wanted to not be a teacher,” said tenured Seattle Central English professor Helena Ribeiro. Now also serving as the faculty union president for the district, Ribeiro first found her passion for education as a student at Seattle Central College in 1999. Her return to the institution as a faculty member 15 years later marks a full circle moment in her life, a journey she never anticipated but now deeply cherishes.

“I never wanted to be a teacher. If fact, I really wanted to not be a teacher.”

Ribeiro and her family permanently relocated to the United States from Brazil when she was seven years old. With one parent in university research and the other in education, Ribeiro knew from a young age that education was an expectation in her home.

Her dad’s work eventually took Ribeiro to the University of Arizona, where she reluctantly enrolled once she graduated high school. Very quickly, Ribeiro realized it wasn’t the right fit. Ribeiro felt their overall approach to education wasn’t congruent with her own values and learning style. She also cited the difficult symptoms of undertreated ADHD, in which her academic struggles were attributed to a “lack of motivation” rather than “a lack of understanding of how [she] could be successful.” She ultimately decided to leave college.

“I tell my students this periodically — I failed English 101 four times and English 102 three times,” Ribeiro shared. “I wanted it so bad, but I couldn’t figure out why I was struggling.”

Helena Ribeiro (‘00): Tenured English faculty and Seattle Central alumna

Ribeiro eventually headed to Seattle “as one did in the 90s,” where several of her friends were living at the time. She remembers her enrollment at Seattle Central as markedly incidental — she was walking down Broadway one day in 1999, wandered into the college, and signed up on a whim.

In her first quarter at Central, Ribeiro encountered a radically different approach to education. “The kind of information we were getting — and how we were expected to process it — was so different from any classroom I’d been in before,” she recalled. “It blew my mind.”

“The kind of information we were getting and how we were expected to process it ....It blew my mind.”

Suddenly, school wasn’t as difficult for Ribeiro — it was exciting and empowering. “I went from not being able to do my two classes and failing out to managing a 15-hour credit load on top of a 40-hour-a-week job,” Ribeiro explained. “I was able to just crush it and I loved it.”

With confidence and a new perspective on education, Ribeiro used her Seattle Central credits and good grades to transfer back to the University of Arizona to finish up her bachelor’s degree in English.

Ribeiro wasn’t totally sure what she wanted to do after graduation. Several of her UofA English professors suggested graduate school, and she thought, why not? She went straight to the graduate center at the City University of New York, a public institution known for the radical thinking and action Ribeiro sought in education. In CUNY’s program, graduate students were required to teach right away.

“I was excited to come back to a place that had such a profound impact on my life.”

During graduate school, she taught at diverse institutions like Queens College and NYU’s Gallatin School, which further shaped her teaching philosophy. Ribeiro enjoyed that her students weren’t always “typical” college students — some were fresh out of high school, but others had medical degrees from other countries, or were eighty-yearold students auditing a class “just hanging out for fun.”

After earning her master’s in philosophy from CUNY in 2014, Ribeiro returned to Seattle Central College as a faculty member in the English department — 15 years after her time as a student. “It was a real unicorn job,” she said. “I was excited to come back to a place that had such a profound impact on my life.”

“The love of learning and community that I experienced at Central — I didn’t ever want to let go of that,” she added.

One of Ribeiro’s favorite parts of teaching English is how frequently her students discover new things in texts she’s read a thousand times. “I just love collective thinking,” she explained. “I love being in a space where ideas are shared and combined and aggregated, in a space where you can pin together a constellation of ideas.”

She also appreciates the energy that this generation of students brings to the classroom. “I never had students like I had at Central who were just ready to go and already knew a lot,” she explained. “The people here are really actionoriented.”

Ribeiro’s dedication to Seattle Central goes beyond the classroom. As faculty union president, she advocates for faculty rights across the district and helps foster a collaborative and inclusive work environment.

“I want my students to be that person at work who says, ‘Does this happen to you? Have you noticed this? Do you want to do something about it?’” she said.

As an English professor, Ribeiro naturally has a keen eye for the motifs in her own story. “Narratively, there is this continuity of circling back and everything coming together, and I’m not talking in terms of fate or kismet or anything, but I think there’s a reason I’m back at Central,” Ribeiro said.

“There aren’t a lot of places where I can do what I do at Central.”

“ The love of learning and community that I experienced at Central – I didn’t ever want to let go of that.”

Helena Ribeiro Seattle Central alumna (‘00) English Faculty

Rebecca Johnston started her first business when she was just 11, refilling ink cartridges for her friends and family. When she wasn’t exercising her entrepreneurial spirit, young Johnston (‘16) would sneak away with her mother’s sewing machine, creating strange, new articles of clothing from scraps of old t-shirts.

Now, the Seattle Central Apparel Design alumna and classroom instructional technician is preparing to realize her business-owning dreams. After spending over a decade at the college, she’s excited to finally “be her own boss” — and to work full-time on her rock and mineral art and apparel company that was kickstarted by her final fashion collection at SCC.

Johnston’s mom, an English professor who taught guitar lessons from home part-time, encouraged her to pursue a plethora of creative interests from a young age — on top of doing well in school, of course. While she always dabbled in both fashion and art, it was music that was the most influential medium throughout her teenage years in Idaho.

After graduating from Pocatello High School in 2002, Johnston decided she wasn’t quite ready for college. Instead, she would pursue a career in music full-time. Her journey began in Kansas City, Missouri, where she played her first open mics. She described her musical style at the time as mostly “singersongwriter,” but infused many of her songs with a touch of parody.

“I had my suitcase, a guitar, and like a hundred dollars in my pocket.”

She enjoyed collaborating and “jamming all night” with artists from countless other genres too, from

Pastel pencil by Rebecca Johnston (‘16) Apparel Design grad, Seattle Central staff, and artist

rock to reggae. She bounced around small towns until her passion for music eventually led her to Seattle in 2003. “I had a suitcase, my guitar, and like a hundred dollars in my pocket. And I had a one-way ticket to Seattle and some friends that I met online that I never met in person,” she said. While in Seattle, she took various jobs in the food industry, including Pagliacci Pizza, and continued to play music.

As Johnston continued to explore her creativity in Seattle, she was drawn to the same experimentation in fashion she loved as a kid. “What I was making clothingwise this whole time were stage outfits,” she explained. “Every time I had a new show booking, I would make a new dress or an outfit for it.” Johnston would even hand design the posters for her shows.

“It was really rigorous, but I kind of thrived off of that.”

As much as she loved playing gigs, she realized music alone wasn’t going to pay the bills. Instead, she looked into options for fashion, since she was already regularly creating pieces for her shows.

She made her first collection for a Ballard boutique called Monster. “I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I made it work,” Johnston said. After her first collection, Johnston started researching local fashion programs and landed on Seattle Central. “I’d heard this program was very good at balancing the creative and the technical aspects so that you could go through it and get a good job when you’re done,” she said. “It was really rigorous, but I kind of thrived off of that.”

Johnston already had the creative mind, but now she had the technical knowledge, resources, and connections to make a career in art and fashion a reality. She also found her community. When Johnston and her friends in the program became overwhelmed before a deadline, they would play hide-and-seek in the design lab. “We’d huddle up underneath a machine and try not to disturb class, so it’d be a quiet game of hide-and-seek,” she recalled. “People working around us would be like, ‘what’s going on over there? Why are they crouched under that machine?’ and we’d just say ‘shhh.’”

After graduating in 2016, Johnston was offered a temporary position running the Apparel Design lab. When the opportunity came to apply full-time, she took it.

Johnston loves creating connections with the students. “I’m the cushion they can go to when they don’t feel like they can go to their instructors, or they’re just feeling overwhelmed. I’m always a safe space for them,” she said. “I love seeing their journeys. I love seeing what they create. I’m inspired by other people’s creativity all the time.”

After 11 years at Seattle Central, Johnston is now moving on to her business, RJ Artwear, full-time. While RJ Artwear has always had a geology focus, Johnston has recently transitioned from original garments to hyper-realistic drawings.

“When the pandemic hit, I realized I really missed drawing, and I got really into the idea of learning how to do realism art,” she explained. “My whole goal was to be able to draw crystals and minerals because they’re very difficult — and I wanted to know why they’re so difficult.” Johnston sells her art in both prints and apparel.

Although Johnston is saying goodbye to Central after 11 years, she is not done with Seattle Colleges entirely. As she transitions out of full-time employment and adjusts to self-employment, Johnston plans to teach a few classes at North Seattle College. She’ll be teaching a charcoal drawing class this summer, and potentially an online charcoal portrait class in the fall.

Johnston is beyond excited to finally be her own boss — and to spend more time mining for precious gems near North Bend. She’s grateful that she never gave up on her various artistic pursuits, and that Seattle Central gave her the technical skills necessary to turn those passions into a career.

“I didn’t give up and I just kept experimenting and trying new mediums.” she said. “Never stopped and probably never will.”

“I love seeing their journeys. I love seeing what they create. I’m inspired by other people’s creativity all the time.”

Rebecca Johnston Seattle Central alumna (‘16) Apparel Design staff & artist

When you see somebody that looks like you, it sends a clear signal that you can do this too,” Executive Dean of Healthcare and Human services Dr. Pat Russell (‘86) said of her instructors at Seattle Central College. “I thought I could do anything after that. It didn’t feel so hard.”

Russell is a third generation Seattleite. Now, her family is on their fifth generation in the city. After attending Seattle Central, Russell felt empowered to embrace a life centered on education and activism — a path largely inspired by the work and values of her parents — culminating in her return to SCC as an educator and community leader.

“Both of my parents were activists,” Russell explained. “There was this joke among my parents’ friends that I learned to march before I learned to walk.”

“There was a joke among my parents’ friends that I learned to march before I learned to walk.”

Her mother, Millie Russell, was an educator who played a significant role in guiding students through the health science programs at Seattle University and the University of Washington. Russell’s father was active in Seattle’s Congress of Racial Equality, an organization that challenged the city’s pervasive practices of employment discrimination, housing discrimination, and defacto school segregation.

Although a teenage Russell thought she’d be doing something completely different from her parents, she found herself following in their footsteps in more ways than one. “This all really underpins everything that I do,” she explained. “I truly believe that if I can’t help the community, what’s the point?”

Dr. Pat Russell (‘86): Executive Dean of Healthcare & Human Services at Seattle Central College

Russell moved between a Catholic School and a public school several times and was among the first Black students bussing to public schools in North Seattle. When she returned to the now-closed Immaculate High School for her senior year, they informed her that she couldn’t graduate on time due to missing a year of religion credit.

“I was around people that looked like me, including my instructors. That made a difference.”

Russell decided to finish high school at Seattle Central instead, which was just a walk down the hill and where several of her mom’s friends were involved. After graduating, Russell took the next decade to raise a family, eventually returning to SCC to earn an Associate of Applied Science with the Visual Media program. Although Russell was intrigued by the ever-changing technology of the time, what she loved most was being behind the camera and telling stories.

“While finishing up high school, it really ignited my level of learning,” she said. “I felt encouraged and supported. I was around people that looked like me, including my instructors. That made a difference.”

Russell fondly recalled a memory of “kvetching” with her classmates in the hallway before an economics exam — which everyone aced. “I don’t know why that memory sticks with me so much, but it was so funny. It was a pretty diverse group of students, and it just seemed like a real bonding moment.”

Her accomplishments at Seattle Central laid the foundation for her future academic journey, combining her academic confidence with her passion for activism and social justice. Russell went on to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology from Antioch University.

Her research focused on the psychological and behavioral impacts of slavery on contemporary African American families, highlighting systemic injustices and the need for culturally competent care. “I developed an interest in psychology because of personal experiences,” Russell explained. “As a Black woman with children, I witnessed how existing systems were not created with us in mind, often leading to harmful outcomes.”

“Okay, how many of you thought Pat Russell was an old white guy?”

Russell operated her own private practice after finishing school. Eventually, a colleague at Antioch asked her if she’d be interested in teaching. Soon, Russell moved on to Cornish College of the Arts — an experience that solidified her passion for teaching and informed her approach to inclusive pedagogy.

“The students I had there could have cared less about development theory, but when I let them use their own experiences and express themselves through their own art forms, man, what I got was fantastic,” she explained. “They really could develop an understanding of it when you were speaking the same language.”

Russell went on to briefly teach at North Seattle College before accepting a part-time position at Central. When a tenure track position in Social and Human Services opened in 2014, she thought, why not?

Apart from a brief stint at City University, Russell has remained at Seattle Central ever since. She has served as a psychology instructor, associate dean, and now executive dean. Russell’s favorite part of teaching at Seattle Central has always been the students. She especially values seeing the impact that representation has in the classroom.

“When I first started teaching, I walked into the classroom and said, ‘okay, how many of you thought Pat Russell was an old white guy?’ Everybody went ‘me.’”

Throughout her career, Russell has remained dedicated to uplifting marginalized communities and fostering a sense of belonging and empowerment among students, continuing to embody the values instilled in her by her parents.

“What really gets me excited is that young women of color are very excited to see another woman of color. And then I tell them, ‘I went to school here, now I’m back and you can do this too.’”

“ What really gets me excited is that young women of color are very excited to see another woman of color. And then I tell them, ‘I went to school here, now I’m back and you can do this too.’”

Dr. Pat Russell Seattle Central alumna (‘86) Executive Dean, instructor, activist

Albert Smalls (‘21): Scientist, sailor, woodworking instructor, and Wood Technology Center grad

While scientist, sailor, and woodworking instructor Albert Smalls (‘21) never thought he wanted to teach, he’s never been opposed to adding another skill to his arsenal. He has always been compelled to share information, to break down the intricacies of how something works and disseminate that process to others.

“You know, I love a good monologue,” he said.

The boat building program at Seattle Central’s Wood Technology Center provided Smalls with access to new opportunities after years of struggling to find work in his field. Now, Smalls is able to share his passion for boats with Seattle youth while fighting for greater access and exposure to careers in trades with Sawhorse Revolution.

After graduating from Garfield High School, Smalls earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington’s Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Smalls thought it would be a straight shot to grad school from there.

Despite earning a degree, Smalls struggled to find work in his field after graduation. “I couldn’t find work at all,” he explained. “Honestly, not just in my field, but just in general, it’s difficult out there for Black males to find jobs.”

Smalls decided to take up restaurant jobs while he continued to search for career-specific work. But when he turned 30, Smalls knew something needed to change. “I was trying to figure out what I wanted to do, ‘cause restaurants definitely weren’t the thing,” he said.

So Smalls decided to lean into another passion he developed while at the University of Washington: sailing. “I definitely knew I was always science-minded 15

as a kid, but I also love trying to develop as many skills as possible,” Smalls explained. “That’s why I like sailing because it’s a lot of skills put into one hobby.”

Sailing perfectly balanced recreation with his love for science and skill development. But after graduating from UW, Smalls could no longer take advantage of the student access and deals. “There’s definitely a lot of barriers to get people into sailing,” he explained. “The acronym BOAT stands for Break Out Another Thousand.”

In his efforts to be as “boat-adjacent” as possible, Smalls began researching local opportunities. Smalls knew he liked working with his hands and understanding the mechanics of things, so he began looking into the boat-building program at Seattle Central’s Wood Technology Center.

“Without exaggeration, I have never been in an environment as supportive.”

Smalls remembers boat-building instructor Sam Laher offering him a thorough tour of the facilities and answering all his questions. He also remembers the encouragement and enthusiasm shown to him by Ms. Willie at the front desk, who motivated Smalls to apply right then and there.

Smalls started in the fall of 2019, and knew it was a perfect fit within the first week. “Without exaggeration, I have never been in an environment as supportive,” he said. “I have a traditional bachelor’s degree, and in the six years that I spent supporting myself through college, I received probably as much support as I did on that first day at the WTC.”

Smalls fondly recalled his first time laying fiberglass — donning a Tyvek suit and a self-contained respirator — and the “hundreds-of-years-old monster ship saw” he used to cut through wood. He also recalls the reality of going through school during a global pandemic.

Despite the difficulties of online learning Smalls faced not long after starting the program, the sense of support and community he experienced at WTC didn’t stop during the pandemic. Laher was able to connect Smalls to a position at Foss Shipyard, ensuring he could continue developing his skills and working with boats while away from WTC. Smalls also continued to be an active member of Seattle Central’s Student Council.

After completing his coursework, Smalls spent a lot of time sailing and volunteering. In early 2022, he was hired full time at Sawhorse Revolution.

Smalls now oversees program development and leads woodworking projects — including boat building — for high school students. He emphasized the organization’s commitment to providing opportunities for students often

overlooked by traditional education. “The students interview community members and try to fill a need that they see in the community,” he explained. “And we get to build whatever we want and design whatever program we want.”

Smalls noted the [relative] lack of trade programs in the Seattle area and the countless barriers to employment that exist for high school students who can’t or don’t want to go to college.

“We’ve really focused on developing pathways for our students,” Smalls explained. “We now have students who have participated for two, three years consistently.” The nonprofit has recently hired a former Sawhorse student for a full-time position, showcasing the long-lasting impact of their programs.

“Keep an open mind and keep developing your dreams — you never know when opportunities will present themselves.”

For those in similar situations to his pre-Seattle Central days, Smalls offers pragmatic advice: “Society is not really designed in a way that allows people to engage with their dreams,” he remarked. “Keep an open mind and keep developing your dreams — you never know when opportunities will present themselves.”

Do you want to speak with Smalls about your dreams?

You’ll find him on the water this summer.

Camila Christensen (‘21): Microsoft employee, Computer Science grad, and Seattle Central alumna

When we last checked in with Brazilian-born software engineer Camila Christiansen, she was busy wrapping up her dual associate degrees at Seattle Central and making plans to continue her education at the University of Washington.

After earning her bachelor’s degree in computer science from UW in late 2022, Christensen joined Microsoft full-time as a front-end developer working on the Office Online Suite.

Through her mentorship roles at Microsoft, Christensen is expanding her skills and creating opportunities for individuals who face similar barriers to those she once encountered as an immigrant and woman in STEM.

When Christensen initially decided to pursue further education after she had moved to the United States, she envisioned a career in nursing — a profession that more closely aligned with the gender roles present in her upbringing.

Christensen didn’t realize programming was an option for her until she enrolled at Central.

“I didn’t see anyone that looked like me doing it,” she said.

Christensen didn’t realize programming was an option for her until she enrolled at Central.

It wasn’t until Christensen attended a conference while taking classes at North Seattle that this path presented itself.

“Ninety percent of the girls at the conference were doing computer science or business,” she explained. “After talking to them, I started doing some research and then I found out Seattle Central had a degree in computer programming, and it was very close to where I was living.”

During her time at Seattle Central, Christensen’s passion for programming flourished. It was through the college’s nurturing environment that she found the courage to pursue a career in technology, despite initial doubts about her fit in the male-dominated field.

“The professors would cheer me up and say, ‘no, you can do this too. You’re on the right path.’”

Her professors’ unwavering support played a crucial role in her development, encouraging her to embrace challenge and keep moving forward.

“Most people in the classroom had experience, and sometimes it made me feel like I didn’t belong,” she explained. “The professors would cheer me up and say, ‘no, you can do this too. You’re on the right path.’”

After wrapping up her time at Central, Christensen thrived in her program at the University of Washington.

“It’s a very different pace from the community college, and as everyone says, it’s a big school,” she said. “But I think all the support I had at Seattle Central allowed me to make this jump and gave me the base to be successful at UW.”

Now, Christiansen is busy gaining hands-on mentoring experience at Microsoft, where she has worked full time since February 2022. What Christiansen loves most about working at Microsoft is the balance between challenge and camaraderie.

Even when faced with a particularly difficult assignment, Christiansen knows she can lean on her team for help.

“All the support I had at Seattle Central allowed me to make this jump and gave me the base to be successful at UW.”

“Sometimes I feel like, ‘what am I doing here? Why did they hire me?’” she said. “But I really love it — it really pushes me and my thinking, and my team is so supportive.”

When she’s not working out bugs in Word or Excel, Christiansen serves as a mentor for two company programs — MinT and The New Technologists — that work with underrepresented students pursuing careers in tech, expanding on her previous work with Girls Who Code at Seattle Central. She is also becoming a coordinator for new interns on her team.

“Even if you’re an older student and you still don’t know what to pursue, that’s fine — you find your path. Just keep going.”

Four years ago, Christiansen shared her dream of launching a nonprofit dedicated to serving women of color in STEM fields. While the nonprofit itself is still a ways off, Christensen is currently focused on gaining access to resources and connections that will bring her dream closer to the horizon.

When Christensen first started at Seattle Central, she was older than the traditional college student. Now that she’s finally starting her career in something she’s passionate about, she’s especially grateful she never let that hold her back.

“Even if you’re an older student and you still don’t know what to pursue, that’s fine — you find your path,” she advised.

“Just keep going.”

My name is Brian Arreola and I’m honored to represent Seattle Central College and the Class of 2024. I want to start my Commencement address with a quote from my father figure: “If you aren’t gonna run, you might as well walk, and if you lost your ability to walk, crawl. Now if you can’t crawl, scratch, but the important thing is you always move forward.”

Funny enough, my father figure was my sister. I am the oldest man raised by a single mother in an immigrant household of women, living in poverty, in South Carolina, in one of the most dangerous cities in America. This is who I am. But the irony is, I didn’t want my past to define me. And it hasn’t.

“If you aren’t gonna run, you might as well walk, and if you lost your ability to walk, crawl. Now if you can’t crawl, scratch, but the important thing is you always move forward.”

Though I’ve never enjoyed the spotlight, today, I stand before you as a man that I’ve always wanted to become: articulate, accomplished, and now, a proud Seattle Central graduate.

When I was in high school, my goal was to be the first person in my family to graduate from college. But my college years were interrupted.

Brian Arreola: Seattle Central Commencement Speaker for the Class of 2024

After my mother was injured on the job and could no longer work, I had to provide for four people and become the man of the household — a non-negotiable role in every traditional Mexican family.

When I should have been focusing on class, building relationships, and networking, I worked to pay rent and medical bills, of which there were too many. And for food, of which there was never enough.

“I knew something had to give, but I also knew it wasn’t going to be me.”

The vision I built for myself, my American dream — earning a degree, finding a career I love, starting a family, lifting my own family out of poverty — was put on pause indefinitely.

During those years, I often sat in bed tired — tired of fighting for survival and tired of foregoing meals so my mother and siblings could eat. I wanted to fight for my own dreams, but I couldn’t caretake and study at the same time.

In those nighttime moments of reflection, I inevitably thought of my mother’s sacrifices. And that humility would well up inside. You see, my mother immigrated to the United States at 15 years old with no money, no job, no family, and no English language skills. She moved to the United States to earn for her family and to provide a better future for her children — whenever they would come. My mom had already sacrificed her time, money, and energy for my siblings and me and we weren’t even born yet. And that was a beautiful thought.

For a few years, I worked as a janitor at a pharmaceutical research company, the lowest paid position on site. I was amazed how much your brain can atrophy if you don’t activate your mind. I felt it little by little, day after day. Mundane tasks like polishing the floor wore me down. This wasn’t a job where I could invest in myself. I knew something had to give, but I also knew it wasn’t going to be me.

That’s when the light in me came back. Instead of just emptying trashcans, I listened to the doctors and researchers talk about their work. While sweeping, I wrote down the names of medications I saw written on whiteboards. I investigated their organic structures, learned how the medicines interacted with patients — anything I could get my hands on, I learned.

Learning changed my mindset. Rather than this job deterring my path, or holding me back, it was showing me something instead — that not only did I have interest in biochemistry and bioengineering, but I also had an aptitude for the subjects.

“Seattle Central gave me the opportunity to make my dream active, to persevere, to smile, to grow — if I pushed myself.”

I was prepared to make my vision a reality, whether that meant stepping into the unknown or pushing myself to grow. Leaning on my mother’s bravery, when she crossed the border to start a new life, I relocated to Seattle by myself and enrolled at Seattle Central College to finish my studies even though I have no friends or family in the area.

“In my mind, it’s not where you are at the time, it’s where you are going. And where you are right now is exactly where you need to be.”

Seattle Central gave me the opportunity to make my dream active, to persevere, to smile, to grow — if I pushed myself. This college helped me realize you can become a better, stronger person through facing and overcoming adversity. This makes the next exam, next university, next problem in life, just that. Another problem that you can solve.

I am forever grateful to Seattle Central for helping me learn and make my dreams a reality.

The vision for my life hasn’t gone as planned. In my mind, it’s not where you are, it’s where you are going. And where you are right now is exactly where you need to be. And that’s ok. Just keep moving forward.

To the class of 2024, congratulations and Go Tigers.

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