Educator Reflects on Career Changes, Roadtrip Nation

Educator Reflects on Career Changes, Roadtrip Nation

Last year, three Rio Salado students went on a cross-country journey with Roadtrip Nation to interview former Rio students and alumni to hear their inspirational stories of professional and professional growth. Some of those mentors were a bit closer to home: Mesa’s Carole Redden was interviewed by Roadtrip students Brittany Gray, Meredith Jaxon and Mariah Schneider, sharing her hard-won perspective as an educator, advisor, and professional and personal development coach.

Redden has spent more than 20 years honing her skills as an educator. Redden earned bachelor's and master’s degrees in Communication Studies from Arizona State University before going to Rio Salado College. 

“Early on in my teaching I realized at that time there weren’t many extensive training opportunities for adjunct faculty members,” Redden said. "Early on in my teaching career at smaller colleges, I noticed there weren't many training and development opportunities for new Adjuncts. Those who were well qualified and had strong professional experience, were hired. As much as I loved teaching, I knew I needed some training to grow in my career long term. So I pursued secondary teacher training with Rio Salado.”

Redden credits her time at Rio Salado with broadening her skill set as an instructor. “It taught me a significant amount about lesson planning, classroom management, the learning process, and connecting with students.” 

Working for years as an academic advisor and communication adjunct faculty member for the Maricopa Community Colleges, Redden transitioned into a new role as Chief Change Office for her own business: Change Your Channel. Redden's Change Your Channel offers professional and personal development courses, and coaching sessions to help people "live their best lives, one change at a time."

“At the start of the pandemic I was asked to do a seminar on how to be happy and stress free in the workplace,” Redden said, reflecting on what spurred her on this new chapter in her professional life. “I had never presented on that topic before, but I had been doing research on it for years and it was very well received. People wanted more and more content.”

Reflecting on her experience as a mentor for the Rio students who took part in Roadtrip Nation, Redden found that her skills in coaching came in handy.

“It was wonderful because I feel like I was able to connect with each of the Road Trippers,” she said. “What I find happens with most of my coaching is that in coaching them we think of things they didn’t realize were possible. So for me it was very rewarding because I saw some light bulbs go on. ‘Oh, I didn’t even realize I could do that!’ It was rewarding to see somebody think about her life and transform in just one conversation.”

Check out Carole Redden’s Roadtrip Nation episode.

Read more about Carole on Roadtrip Nation.