This spring, TAF alumni Shaylyn Karan will graduate from Central Washington University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Technology, Project Management, and Data Analytics. Shaylyn graduated from TAF@Saghalie in 2018, and earned her Associate’s Degree at the same time as her high school diploma. 

While enrolled at TAF@Saghalie, Shaylyn took advantage of various career-connected learning opportunities. Although she participated in an oceanography summer internship at the University of Washington prior to her sophomore year, one of her most significant experiences while at TAF@Saghalie was the Expedia Innovation Challenge developed through TAF’s partnership with Expedia, Inc. Through the challenge, students formed teams to build their own travel website after receiving intense coding instruction through Coding Dojo and learning four programming languages. Shaylyn excelled, and the results of her effort earned her a college scholarship, paid summer internship, and a chance for her website idea to be acquired by Expedia, as well.

“Being a summer intern at Expedia really allowed me to practice the skills I’ve learned and apply them to the workplace,” Shalyn shared shortly after high school graduation. “Now that I’ve graduated, I’m already qualified for entry-level coding positions.”

Since graduating, Shaylyn has continued to sharpen her skills and seek additional industry experience. We recently reached out to her for an update.

Shaylyn shared, “After graduating from TAF, I worked on the creation of the Annual Report site for KCTS 9 which is now the template for future annual reports and also looked at the historical data of the site to see where improvements could be made. Most recently, I have modernized and automated the process on a team collaboration site and have been cultivating my business intelligence and analytic skills by working on the construction of an Azure SQL database to store data, a Logic App to automate data retrieval, and Tableau dashboards to report the work and insights found.”

Her current position as an Information Technology Services (ITS) Portfolio Management Intern at Alaska Airlines is her second consecutive internship at the company, who is also a TAF corporate partner.

“As long as I have known Shaylyn, she has been dedicated to exploring new experiences and opportunities,” shares Sarah Wilkes, TAF College Readiness Program Manager. “Shaylyn clearly stood out as the leader… Her teachers all know her as a bright, highly-capable student, and I know her as a fearless explorer. I look forward to hearing about her next accomplishments.”

We are extremely proud of Shaylyn’s success and grateful that through strong relationships with our corporate and university partners, she was able to take advantage of opportunities to explore career options before graduating high school. We can empower many more students like Shaylyn not only with access to incredible industry opportunities but with supportive and equitable classroom environments that support their success.

TAF is participating in GiveBIG, May 5th-6th. Help us empower all students to take part in experiences that will prepare them to become leaders, innovators, and creators. Donate today: https://givebigwa.org/taf.