Alumna's Journey: Student to Teacher to Proud Parent

When Karen Charles participated in Cal State San Marcos’ commencement ceremonies to receive her bachelor’s in 2000 and her teaching credential in 2001, she did so on a small grassy area in Forum Plaza.

At the time, there were four main buildings on campus with University Hall having just opened a couple of years before Charles graduated with her liberal studies degree.

So, it’s easy to imagine her shock at seeing campus for the first time since those commencement ceremonies when she arrived in the summer of 2023 to attend family orientation with her daughter, Kaiah, who was an incoming first-year student that fall.

“It was crazy,” Charles said. “I thought, ‘This was my little school, and it's just so beautiful.’ I was so proud of how far it's come. I almost got teary eyed. I feel like I was there at the beginning, and it's become this incredible university. Attending orientation, I don’t know why people in the area would want to go anywhere else. It’s so gorgeous and you have everything.”

Charles attended CSUSM with a single goal – becoming an elementary school teacher. And she credits the university for helping to prepare her for the career she’s enjoyed for more than two decades.

“Like with anything, once you actually get into teaching it can be so different than what you learned in school,” Charles said. “But CSUSM really does a great job of setting you up for success.

“It was helpful that so many of my professors had been in the classroom before. It wasn't someone just telling you what it was going to be like, it was based on real-life experience. That made a huge difference learning from people who actually know what you're going to be going through and what it’s like. They didn’t sugarcoat everything, which was good because they know that there are good things about teaching and there are challenging things about teaching.”

Charles was a first-generation college student, and she was focused from a young age on becoming a teacher (brief thoughts about becoming a nurse ended in fifth grade when she sliced open her hand and saw the blood). She always loved working with kids – even when she was one herself. In elementary school, she often helped in the kindergarten classes, loving every minute working with younger students.

An Escondido native, Charles taught in her hometown at Conway Elementary (now known as Conway Academy of Expeditionary Learning) for three years before moving across town to help open Bernardo Elementary School in 2005. She has been at Bernardo ever since, teaching first grade throughout her career.

“I love what I do,” Charles said. “First grade is so much fun because a lot of these kids come in knowing letters and sounds, but they literally leave as readers. First grade is so foundational that just to see their growth is so rewarding.

“And we have great families at Bernardo. I love my team that I work with and we have an awesome principal. I couldn't work at a better school.”

Charles has similar feelings about CSUSM. She was about 7 months pregnant with her first child, Benjamin, when she received her teaching credential at commencement in 2001. A year later, she began teaching at Conway. She had three more children – Kaiah and sons Elijah and Josiah – with Kaiah following in her mom’s footsteps by attending CSUSM.

Like her mom, Kaiah is looking toward a career working with children. She is majoring in psychological science and works about 30 hours a week doing applied behavior analysis therapy to help young children with autism learn and develop skills.

“I love working with kids. I feel like I was born to do it,” said Kaiah, who likely will pursue her master’s with an eye on being a therapist.

It's gratifying for Charles to see how Kaiah is finding her place at CSUSM and looking forward to diving deeper into her major as she completes her general education courses.      

“I'm so happy she's there, and she's really happy that she's there, too,” Charles said. “Right from the time we got to orientation, it just felt like a family and a community.”

Media Contact

Eric Breier, Interim Assistant Director of Editorial and External Affairs

ebreier@csusm.edu | Office: 760-750-7314