Katie Barr and Tristan Love
Katie Barr is a passionate educator of 28 years whose goal is to connect content to the real world, helping young people find their passion for learning and a path to their futures. Katie is the founder of the Patrick McCurdy Education Foundation, a rural school based mentoring program in Lane County, Oregon. She is also former Director of the Northern California Pathway Trust, and a member of the California State School Board Practitioners Advisory Board. For the last five years Katie was the principal of a comprehensive high school in Northern California. During her tenure, the school re-envisioned their approach to teaching and learning and developed a five year strategic plan that focused on student engagement. She created and piloted a school wide career development curriculum that was adopted by numerous high schools in Sonoma County.
Tristan Love is passionate about making school a safe and supportive place to learn, grow and develop. This passion is rooted in Tristan’s experience as an “at-risk” student and his experiences in a nurturing school while he experienced several traumatic events. Tristan began his educational journey as a high school science teacher and Teach for America Corps member in Houston. Tristan’s “whole student” approach to teaching played an instrumental role in increasing student achievement, student morale, and appreciation for science. As an administrator at the same school, Tristan assisted the school in breaking a long streak of underperformance, as well as a decrease in severe discipline infractions, and recidivism in alternative school placements. Afterward, Tristan helped the district create and oversee a districtwide Disciplinary Alternative Educational Program (DAEP) that supported more than 50 high schools. As a principal, Tristan continued his work in making school a safe and supportive place for students to learn, grow, and develop. Tristan’s journey and work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, RoadTrip Nation, and several other news outlets.
