Eagle Rock’s New Director of Public Allies Has Walked These Hills Before

Our new director of Public Allies is no stranger to our mountainside campus, having served as the curriculum fellow back in 2008 and 2009.

In fact, for the past 15-plus years, Christi Kelston has worked with nonprofits that challenge traditional concepts of education and youth development. At Eagle Rock, she will be supporting and overseeing a dozen Public Allies fellows through their year of service, leadership and personal development. And with her guidance, we expect these fellows to become members of a new generation of leaders in education reform, inspiring change in educational and non-profit organizations across the nation.

As director of public allies at Eagle Rock, Christi also serves on the Professional Development Center (PDC) team reporting to our director of Professional Development (Michael Soguero) and to Public Allies’ Chief Operating Officer (Cris Ros Dukler).

Prior to rejoining the Eagle Rock team, Christi was the program director of quality improvement at Family League of Baltimore, where she oversaw the quality, implementation, evaluation and tracking of professional development and technical assistance. Family League provides its services to community partners from Baltimore City public schools, afterschool programs and community organizations.

Working with Baltimore community schools, Christi said she was fortunate to be able to dedicate her experience and talents in support of strategies that remove barriers for student success and development.

Christi’s earlier professional experiences included teaching both in and out of the classroom, facilitating teambuilding and ropes course programs, and training and leading a staff of up to 50 educators at Genesee Valley Outdoor Learning Center in Parkton, Maryland.

While spending much of her childhood and working years in Maryland, assignments have taken her to Virginia, Rhode Island, Colorado, California — and now back to Estes Park. Christi has held academic and residential positions at a summer enrichment program for gifted students, directed a 10-week summer day camp program with more than 1,200 participants, and served as acting executive director of Genesee Valley Outdoor Learning Center.

Christi was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., then moved to a small town in North Carolina when her parents began directing a girls’ residential summer camp. From age nine to 18, Christi lived in Baltimore County, Md. She graduated from the University of Mary Washington with a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative non-fiction writing.

Beyond the workday, Christi spends her time seeking outdoor adventures —especially in the mountains, which she says makes her new job at Eagle Rock all the more sweet. She loves traveling, playing lawn and board games, crafting, listening to live music, and spending time with her wife Annie and their dog Fern.