Sarah Pullen

I got my master's degree in school counseling from Johns Hopkins University in 2016, but I got my foot in the door in education before that. I worked as an independent contractor mentor for Live Girl in Connecticut, facilitating a mentoring group of about 10 to 15 middle school girls, helping them develop social-emotional intelligence and build leadership values. From 2016 to 2018, I worked as an administrative support assistant at a private independent day school, providing after-school care and supervision, building partnerships with parents, and teaching classes - I was kind of a jack-of-all-trades, all over the place. I also worked for Horizons National in New Canaan, Connecticut as a technology resource teacher in 2018, meeting with faculty and administrators to formulate viable solutions related to tech in the classroom during their summer program. Then I moved to the Meadowbrook School of Weston in Weston, Massachusetts, where I taught 7th and 8th grade history and worked as the multicultural affairs teaching intern, being on board with the diversity, equity, and inclusion director's work on cultural events, heritage nights, and racial equity initiatives. I also coached girls basketball at the time. Eventually, that led me to Nashville, Tennessee in 2019 to become the founding school counselor of KIPP Antioch College Prep Middle School. Since I was the founding counselor, we didn't even have a building at the time - we used to use a building with another school until our building was officially built in 2022. I laid the groundwork for a comprehensive school counseling program, establishing strong relationships with students, providing lots of Tier 1 services like bullying awareness and prevention, and collaborating with teachers and faculty to ensure they're teaching kids through a trauma-informed lens and a social-emotional lens. While working as a school counselor, I've taken on additional roles including working as an ambassador for the Tennessee Educators of Color Alliance for a pilot year, promoting and elevating their events to gather educators of color in the Nashville community. I also worked as a digital wellness coach for Bonfire Digital Wellness, providing one-on-one coaching to students from 4th grade through high school using evidence-based practices and motivational interviewing. In 2023, I took on a regional role as counselor professional development lead for KIPP Nashville Public Schools, where I conduct data analysis, act as a liaison between our counseling team across 10 schools and our director of student experience and equity, and put on professional development meetings every month. This year, we kicked off our first annual mental health and wellness Community Day on May 9th, bringing resources from the community to our school campus for the greater KIPP Nashville community.