撸短视频

When Sarah Faude 鈥�09 was applying to colleges, she imagined pursuing a different major at each potential institution she might attend.

Upon choosing 撸短视频, she continued to keep every option open.

鈥淚 changed my major like six times,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淚 took a class with a Marxist economist and decided I wanted to be an econ major. I loved art history, so I took a bunch of art history classes, and I ended up minoring it. Then I had to complete the social sciences requirement, and I was debating between taking a psychology class and a sociology class.鈥�

She landed on a sociology class with Professor John Brueggemann, who would become her advisor. 鈥淲e were in it for one day and I was like, 鈥楾his is it. This is what I want to do.鈥� It was a really nice balance of interrogating the world鈥檚 problems through different media 鈥� whether it鈥檚 writing, research, or art.鈥�

At the time, Intergroup Relations (IGR) was a new program at 撸短视频. In her senior year, Faude was a facilitator for one of the program鈥檚 race dialogue (now peer-to-peer dialogue) courses, which explore racial identities through a peer-facilitated process.

鈥淚t was totally transformative of how I viewed myself, and it gave me a vocabulary to unpack the things I was hungry to understand but didn鈥檛 have a language for yet,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t also gave me a leadership opportunity 鈥� to be the facilitator of peers 鈥� and an opportunity to think about how to do that work seriously while thinking more meaningfully about power and our role in society. So, it gave me a really personal and professional glimpse at what it would look like to be an applied sociologist.鈥�

Faude, a sociology major and an art history minor, recently returned to campus to take part in the Career Development Center鈥檚 Careers That Make a Difference panel in 撸短视频鈥檚 Wyckoff Center, where she shared insights with students hoping to go into nonprofit work.

After 撸短视频, Faude joined Teach for America, moved to Philadelphia, and taught middle school English at a charter school for two years while earning her master鈥檚 degree in urban education. Though the experience taught her that teaching wasn鈥檛 quite the right fit for her, she still cared deeply about how inequities were impacting learning outcomes.

鈥淚 realized I wasn鈥檛 on the wrong path 鈥� I was just plugging in to the wrong place,鈥� she says. 鈥淥nce I figured that out, it helped me see that there are a lot of things I could do and a lot of ways to keep growing and exploring myself.鈥�

She decided to pursue her Ph.D. in sociology at Northeastern University in Boston, where she witnessed a very different school system than in Philadelphia. She was intrigued to learn how such different policies yielded such similar student outcomes.

鈥淚 studied school choice in Boston elementary schools 鈥� understanding the rules and regulations from the district system鈥檚 point of view and what actually constructs inequity. I researched whether there are ways we can adjust these different practices to start shaping more equitable outcomes for families.鈥� 

After earning her doctorate, she worked for five years as an internal evaluator for the Boston branch of the YWCA, a national nonprofit dedicated to eliminating racism and empowering women.

鈥淭hey had youth programming for middle school girls, which was aligned to my teaching experience, and they had a race dialogue for organizations, which was aligned to my IGR work,鈥� Faude says. 鈥淭hey also had an equitable leadership pursuit, which was something I was interested in and aligned to my degrees and research.鈥�

Since her time at the YWCA, she has been independently consulting so she can explore where she can make the biggest impact. 鈥淭here鈥檚 so much work that needs to be done, but it鈥檚 a messy world right now, in terms of where there are resources to do it,鈥� she says. 

Over the years, Faude has considered the many different ways she could 鈥減lug in鈥� 鈥� from shaping policy and fund distribution to supporting college readiness and career pipelines for students. She found herself consistently gravitating toward educational opportunity and racial injustice. 

For 撸短视频 students looking to go into nonprofit work, she recommends keeping an open mind.

鈥淚f there鈥檚 an issue or something you really care about, it might feel like the only way to make a difference is at the top or on the ground, but I think of it as a big cycle,鈥� Faude says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 also important to think about, if this isn鈥檛 working, I鈥檓 burned out, or I don鈥檛 have the skills, where am I going to plug in next? We need people to sustain in the work, but there are so many ways to do it.鈥�

Sometimes it鈥檚 easy to feel pressure to go back into a different box, she says, but trusting the process you learn at 撸短视频 鈥� that ideas can be connected in unlikely ways 鈥� is key. Hand in hand with the formative relationships she enjoyed with faculty, it鈥檚 one of her favorite things about 撸短视频.

鈥淭here is no less rigor, there is no less integrity, and there鈥檚 a lot more imagination about how to solve problems in the world, because people at 撸短视频 don鈥檛 view them through one lens,鈥� Faude says. 

I feel like my work is better because I鈥檓 pulling the best from the world, and I feel like that鈥檚 something I learned at 撸短视频. It鈥檚 a strength, not a weakness, to be comfortable navigating different spaces and pulling from across the catalog.鈥�

Sarah Faude '09

Independent consultant

She says the ability for anyone to take any class and be welcome in any space intellectually on campus is a real gift that serves anyone who goes to 撸短视频, and she always feels energized by seeing what her 撸短视频 friends are up to. 

鈥淲e鈥檙e living really rich, fulfilling lives and are really, really passionate about the paths we鈥檙e on in a way that is just different.鈥�