As strategy assistant for high school innovation, Kiersten supports a wide range of high school-focused work, including College Bound Michigan, the School Counselor Fellows Program, and professional development webinars.

Before taking on her current role, Kiersten served as an AmeriCorps VISTA with MCAN, working on the Rapid Response Enrollment Task Force, hosting webinars that focused on admissions and financial aid updates from colleges, and helping to launch CAVA, MCAN's college access chatbot. Prior to that, Kiersten worked as a full-time camp counselor in rural Arizona where she gained invaluable experience working with disadvantaged children ages 7-13. She also completed a year of service as an AmeriCorps member with City Year Denver. During that time, she served in the Denver Public School District as a high school student success coach. Her interest in education shifted from direct interventions in secondary school to the macro, systemic aspects of accessing higher education.

Kiersten's mother, a high school teacher for over 25 years, instilled the value of education within her from an early age. Kiersten earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from Spring Arbor University, where she participated in a three-week cross-cultural experience in Zambia and studied abroad in Guatemala for a semester. Those out-of-the-classroom learning experiences had a huge impact on how Kiersten views the world and those around her. She will always fight for the opportunity for students to experience new places and cultures, as she believes it humanizes that which might be negatively labeled "other." She later attended Wayne State University, where she earned a Master of Library and Information Science with an additional graduate certificate in public library services to children and young adults.

Outside of her service with MCAN, Kiersten loves to read and rave about her favorite books on social media. She also can be found snuggling her 12-pound cat, Carley.