Career Path of an Associate Director of Programs at CoderDojo Bay Area
Cassandra's career path, beginning with diverse extracurricular activities and internships focused on social impact, led to a Teach for America position in Chicago. Following this, a transition from classroom teaching to Code Nation, an educational non-profit, saw their career progress from Program Manager to Associate Director of Programs, where Cassandra now oversees program managers and contributes to strategic planning, reflecting a consistent passion for education and community building.
Education, Nonprofit, Program Management, Community Building, Career Transition
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Cassandra Houghton
Associate Director of Programs
Code Nation
Saint Louis University, 2016
Dominican University, Masters in Special Education
Ethnic & Related Studies
Education
Education
Honors Student, Scholarship Recipient, Took Out Loans, Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. Cassandra's career path showcases the value of diverse experiences. Her background includes peer advising, resident advising, tutoring, and internships in various social impact areas. This diverse experience helped her identify her passion for education and community building.
2. Her involvement with Teach for America demonstrates a commitment to education and provided valuable classroom experience. This experience transitioned into roles with increasing responsibility in the non-profit sector.
3. Cassandra's progression from program manager to senior program manager to associate director of programs highlights a clear career trajectory in educational non-profits. Her current role involves strategic planning, program oversight, and regional coordination, indicating significant growth and leadership development.
Transcript
Could you walk me through your career path? Start with your experiences in college, and then any internships or jobs you had before your current role.
Sure, so I am currently the Associate Director of Programs for CoderDojo Bay Area. We are an education nonprofit that provides free coding classes to high school students. We work with high schools that don't currently offer coding classes or are trying to expand their CS education programming.
When I was in school, I was involved in many different education-related activities. I was a peer advisor for a university 101 class and a resident advisor. I also worked as a tutor and was heavily involved in various extracurricular activities.
I majored in Anthropology, International Studies, and Communications, and was involved in honors societies related to those fields. I also completed internships at local nonprofits in the city where I attended school. These internships focused on social impact issues, ranging from homelessness to breast cancer awareness and refugee resettlement.
Through all these experiences, I realized I enjoyed working in education. I liked teaching students and valued the relationship-building and community-building aspects of these roles.
While at school, I connected with Teach for America through a career fair and was recruited to join. I taught in Chicago for two years as a Corps member. After my commitment, I decided I wanted to continue working in the classroom.
The flexibility of teaching allowed me to move from Chicago to the Bay Area, where I continued teaching for a couple more years until the pandemic. During that time, I transitioned from the classroom to an educational nonprofit, where I've been for the past two and a half years.
Initially, I worked as a Program Manager, which involved more direct classroom engagement. I then moved to Senior Program Manager, which focused less on being in the classroom and more on working on different projects. Now, I am in my current position as Associate Director of Programs. I oversee program managers and work on larger regional projects, contributing to CoderDojo Bay Area's strategic planning and vision.