Have you ever wondered where our past CABbies have been and where they are now? This is a growing and new page. If you are a CAB Alumni and would like to share your story, email cab.ucsb@gmail.com with the subject “CAB Alumni Post.”
Kasey Kokenda
Kyria Edwards
Megan Lim
Kasey Kokenda: CAB Childcare Director 2011-2012
What Up Cabbies?!? My name is Kasey Kokenda and I was CAB’s Childcare Director during the 2011-2012 academic year.
Where in the world am I now? Great question. I have been all over the world since I graduated from UCSB this past June. Over the summer, I worked at a “Leaders of Social Change” camp at Stanford. I worked with inspiring, High-School Students from 19 different countries, and helped them develop their own social projects. After that, I went with a friend on a two-month backpacking trip throughout Southeast Asia and visited Cambodia, Thailand, and Indonesia.
While in Indonesia, I kept the CAB spirit alive, and volunteered at a local High School in a small city called, Cianjur, on the island of Java.
I am currently at home for the holiday season, working and saving money to go on one more adventure (hopefully in Europe) before I head off to Colorado to be a 2013 Teach for America Corps member.
CAB has no doubt greatly influenced my life and has not only inspired me to become further involved in Public Service, but has also given me hands-on experience that has opened many doors for me in my post-graduate life.
For all of you who are involved as a volunteer or a leader in CAB, know that you are not only making a difference in the UCSB Community, but you are also making a difference in the Santa Barbara Community, as well as in your own futures. Keep on, Keepin’ on, and making our world a better place! You all are quite inspiring!”
Kyria Edwards: CAB Co-Chair 2011-2012
Hello CABbies! Let me start by saying that I joined CAB my first week at UCSB and then had the honor of being a CAB leader for the next four years! (Houseless Hunger, Senior Citizens, Special Projects and Co-Chair Whoop Whoop!!) It was one of the best- and most rewarding- decisions of my life. I grew up in a small town on Catalina Island, came to UCSB, wanted to get involved and “make a difference” and let me tell you….CAB is one of the very best ways to do that! Think about it…want to meet nice people?? VOLUNTEERS GOT IT GOING ON 🙂
Silliness aside… CAB has provided me with extensive educational opportunities, extra-curricular activities and leadership development (plus some friends for life). Combined, these experiences have fostered within me a passion to use my skills for the greater good by volunteering locally and globally. After my time studying sociology & education at UCSB, I joined Teach for America and had the chance to continue living the CAB mission even upon graduation
I believe everyone has a unique set of talents and desires and can use those traits to give back to the community from which they emerge. Wherever I am I strive to follow my mother’s advice, “Leave it better than you found it.” There are no boundaries to service and there are endless ways to give back. Whether you are picking up a piece of litter on your way to school or you design a non-profit- I challenge you to make the world a better place in your own special way. Allow CAB to help that dream come true.
Megan Lim: CAB Environmental Coordinator 2012-2013
Hi all you amazing CABbies! I hope you all are having a wonderful new year and winter quarter. I am a CABbie alum so I’d like to share with you all what I’m up to now. After graduating last March, I stuck around UCSB until June then moved back home to LA. In LA, I got a food justice internship with a small organization called Public Matters LLC. Food justice is the intersection between health and social justice. We tackle the issue of lack of healthy food access (fruits and vegetables) in low income, minority neighborhoods by approaching convenience stores and asking if they are willing to undergo a market makeover. This is a health issue because lack of healthy food access leads to high rates of obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. I have really enjoy my work with this organization because I get to interact with people and a new community in addition to feeling like I create positive change.
In the new year I got two more internships, one with a EnrichLA and the other with Ronald McDonald House Charities. EnrichLA is a garden school program that puts gardens in schools as a teaching resource. I believe garden schools are a great way to teach about food systems and to connect urban youth with nature. Ronald McDonald House Charities is a non-profit organization that supports families with cancer. I decided to pursue this internship because I am interested in the non-profit field plus I have volunteered at Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times for the past four years. How did I get involved with Camp? Through UCSB and CAB! Camp holds a round of interviews every year at UCSB and some fellow CABbies recommended I interview so I did! Four years later, I’m still crazy about the cause and currently interning for them so you never know how volunteer organizations may play a part in your career. When Camp rolls around for interview in spring quarter, please consider it. It is an amazing organization filled with the supportive, generous, bright people who may quickly become family.
CAB has influenced my career path by helping me realize how much I like helping others. I want to have a career where I feel like I am making the world a better place. I feel my best when I volunteer. So how does volunteering translate into a job? I’m not really sure yet but I think non-profits might be the ticket. So I’m interning, gaining experience to snag a job I love.
I hope all you CABbies realize how awesome the CAB community is. It’s a community filled with people who care, who are willing to give, who love to help others. Please take the time to reflect on all the great volunteer work you do and how it makes you feel. Pursue your passions to the best of your abilities because you can make a difference. You and your fellow CABbies are amazing people! Keep doing fantastic work. I’m proud to be a CABbie and you should be too!