Blog Post

Meet Our New Team Member: Kesean Tyler, Organizational Development Intern

Last month, TSIN was fortunate to welcome Kesean Tyler as the newest Operational Development Intern. Kesean is a graduate student with Vanderbilt University pursuing a M.Ed in Leadership and Organizational Performance. He brings his enthusiasm, technical expertise, and ingenuity to the Network. We interviewed Kesean to learn what brought him to TSIN, about his role on the team, and what he’s interested in pursuing after graduation.

Tell us about the path that led you to this internship.
Throughout my educational experiences, I can quickly pinpoint teachers who have had a positive impact and provided support to me as I was growing up. From these experiences, I’ve always wanted to be in a position to provide the same level of support to others so that they can reach their full potential. When I graduated from Vanderbilt this past May, I considered becoming a teacher, but I was also interested in how leaders can best motivate and support people within their organizations. I ultimately decided to enter graduate school right away, but I was also looking for a way that I would be able to explore my interests while also applying some of what I was learning in the classroom in an organizational context. Then, I came across an internship posting with TSIN, and the rest is history! I thought that this internship would provide me with a great opportunity to both learn about and support teachers’ experiences in the classroom while also gaining a higher-level overview of how schools, districts, and entire states achieve educational goals.

What are your career goals after graduation?
This is a question that I get very often, and I never know the exact answer. I enjoy solving problems and knowing that the work I’m doing is having a positive impact on the communities around me, so that would be important for any future career decisions. The field of education has always interested me, so if I could find an organization that combines my interests and provides me with new challenges every day, I would be sold on it!

How has it been working virtually?
I would prefer being in-person because I like the environment of seeing people and being able to quickly pop into peoples’ offices and ask questions. With COVID, however, I do appreciate Battelle taking all of the necessary precautions to keep their employees safe by allowing people to work remotely. The TSIN team and OSLN have also been great at creating a bond through our virtual meetings and quick (virtual) chats, lol. I look forward to the day that I will be able to meet the rest of the team in person, though!

What is something surprising that you've learned from this role?
I’ve never worked in project management or project implementation, so the amount of work and planning that occurs behind the scenes for all of TSIN’s programs has been very surprising to me. A lot of the projects that I am working on currently don’t have start dates for a few months, but it still feels like deadlines are quickly approaching with a lot of work left to do!

What has been your biggest takeaway so far?
I’ve always heard that it takes a community to raise a kid, and working with TSIN has been the perfect real-life example of this. Within the TSIN team, everyone is involved in nearly all of TSIN’s programs, lending their expertise and particular skillset to whatever tasks need to be done. This community even extends to members of the OSLN, STEMX, and several TSIN partners that are eager to support each other whenever there is a need. I think that this large community of educators will be one of the things that I remember most from this internship.

What do you like to do in your free time?
In my free time, I would ideally be involved with something having to do with the outdoors. I’m pretty active and don’t enjoy sitting around that much (it’s even hard for me to sit down for an entire movie sometimes). Within this, I enjoy going on hikes, camping, and getting lost in new places (usually finding my way back with Google Maps, haha). This adventurism would also include traveling a lot more whenever it’s safe to do so! I’m no professional, but I also enjoy cooking in my free time.

What's an interesting fact people might not know about you?
This a great question. When I was a sophomore in college, I did a study abroad in Russia, where I lived with a Russian host family and had an opportunity to volunteer at several organizations throughout Russia. One of my most memorable experiences was going on a 2-hour hike through the Russian swamps to an abandoned 19th-century Russian Orthodox church where we cleaned the grounds, planted flowers, and even helped build a bridge that linked the church to a nearby road. After spending the majority of the day working, we all sat around a campfire and sang Russian folk songs and played games. We were originally supposed to spend the night at the church in tents (which would have been very interesting), but we ended up making this a day trip.