Life is an Adventure. Let’s Explore the Journey Together!
In education and expanded learning, we often take the path less traveled – the unpaved trail that leads to exploration and adventure! The BOOST Breakfast Club Blog is excited to spotlight the journeys of the BOOST Leadership and BOOST Ambassador teams in the Fall 2025 Collaborative Blog Series – Share Your Career Journey: Explore the Path We’ve Traveled. Thank you to these important BOOST partners for adventuring into the unknown for the betterment of our youth and communities.
Let’s check out the career map with Kaitlin Brown. Thank you, Kaitlin, for inviting us to join your journey! We appreciate you!
Explore the Path We’ve Traveled with BOOST Ambassador, Kaitlin Brown
Kaitlin is the North Middle and Central High School Site Coordinator for the Black Hills Special Services Cooperative in Rapid City, SD, and is a proud BOOST Ambassador.
What is your career path journey? How did you get involved in the out-of-school time, expanded learning, and/or educational fields?
I graduated from the University of Wyoming with an Elementary Degree, ready to hit the Kindergarten scene. A family emergency changed my plans and brought me back to South Dakota. I got a job at an organization that served children from birth to 5th grade. I was working in the school-age area, and because it was during the school year, it was classified as out-of-school time; however, the organization didn’t call it that. I did that for 2 years and loved it. In the summer, we went on field trips every day around our town and local communities. This job taught me the most valuable skill I have ever learned to date – I learned how to drive a school bus and kept this skill for many years. I moved up in this organization and left the “out-of-school” section after two years. I dipped my toes into adult education as a college admission advisor for a year and quickly realized that I missed the students. I found my current job through a friend. After learning what out-of-school time was, and realizing I had already done it and loved it, I jumped into the job with two feet and never left. It has been 7.5 years, and I would not change a thing about my path.
What part of your career path has surprised you most?
The part of my path that surprises me the most is that I don’t miss traditional teaching as much as I thought I would. When I graduated from college, I had a teaching job lined up, but ultimately gave it up when my family emergency came about. I spent the next two years searching for teaching jobs and missing that aspect of my degree. Once I started to understand what Afterschool was and how impactful I could be for a student, that “missing piece” went away. I enjoy the freedom that Afterschool gives me that teaching would never have given me.
Who has supported you on your journey as a mentor, colleague, or friend?
I met this person at my first organization because we were doing the same position. She is the ying to my yang, and helps balance me out on EVERYTHING. She grew from a work colleague to my best friend. We no longer live in the same town and no longer work in the same field, but I still go to her for advice. She has been that not-so-silent cheerleader that everyone needs outside of their family.
What keeps you in the field?
My students keep me in the field. Every saying is true about working with students. Then you throw in working with low-income students, and every statistic hits home. For me, it’s as simple as, if I’m not going to do the work, who is?
As you continue on the journey, what areas of leadership are you developing in yourself?
The areas of leadership that I am gravitating to and want to develop more in are the areas of high stress and big emotions, within my team and within my students.
What skills are the most crucial to succeeding in this field?
I work in the middle and high school Afterschool field, so my areas of success are going to look different than someone who works in the elementary Afterschool field. For me to be successful, I have to know gaming lingo and have the knowledge of what games are popular. I need to know the popular music, books, and computer lingo. It’s like reliving your teenage years again. I’ve started to give the advice that to be successful, think like a teenager!
What would you recommend others pack in their “career backpack”? Why are those items important?
The first thing any person needs while working in the Afterschool world is an “easy-going” attitude. Meaning AND knowing that not everything is going to go to plan, and you have to be ok with that. The second thing would be snacks, because food fixes about 95% of all problems! Third is your sense of adventure – every day is a new day in the Afterschool world. Make it great and magical for the students. Without making our bags super heavy, the fourth and final thing I think we all need in our bags is the ability to think fast on our feet. Things happen in the Afterschool world, tensions are high, and if we don’t care, a small mole hill can turn into a mountain.
Tell us about your BOOST adventure? When did you get started?
My first attempt at BOOST was COVID 2020. My colleagues went the next year, but I was not able to, as I had a new baby, so my first official year was 2022. I left a new person! I had been to other types of conferences, but there was a buzz around this conference that I had never felt at others. My second year, I saw a flyer about being a BOOST Ambassador and thought, “why not?”. I am now in my second year as a BOOST Ambassador, as I have loved being a part of the hype and excitement that goes into the conference.
What is the best mistake you have made in your career? What did you learn from it?
Giving the wrong answers to staff —and not just simple wrong answers. Wrong answers to moments or issues that are high stress and have the potential to derail trust or cause lasting issues down the road. I learned to always think through my words and that it’s ok to not have answers to issues, problems, or moments right away. We are all allowed to take time to step away to cool down and look at the situation from a different perspective.
Today, for breakfast, I had…
A Banana and a Cherry Twist Alani.
Kaitlin, from all of us here at TEAMBOOST, thank you for inviting us to explore the path you’ve traveled and journey alongside you. We are excited to see where the adventure will lead as you INSPIRE YOUTH, INSPIRE LEARNING, and INSPIRE CHANGE.
Meredith White
Kaitlin! The items you selected for our Career Backpack are ON POINT! I often underestimated the power of a snack… to bring people together, to provide nourishment after a long day, and to solve many challenges. Snacks… always pack the snacks!
Thank you also for the reminder to pack our sense of adventure and make every moment a magical one for the youth in our programs. Needed that today! Meredith
Deanna Underwood
“Think like a teenager” is such good advice – we were all there at one point, and we tend to forget what it was like. Thank you for your leadership in the field!