Meet the Denver staff
City Year Denver’s team is made up an amazing group of idealist and passionate individuals that are committed to growing City Year’s impact throughout Denver Public Schools and the community. We truly believe our work is part of the national effort to help students and schools succeed.
John Albright, Vice President and Executive Director for City Year Denver, is a mission-driven leader with 20 years of experience in public education with a focus on relationship management, organizational and team strategy, partnership cultivation and development, fundraising, communications, policy, and board management and development. Prior to joining City Year Denver, he served with DPS since 2012. Prior he spent 11 years with Adams 14 in Commerce City, serving in various public relations and strategy roles.
As Student Engagement Director, John led the secondary education division’s policy and strategy work on graduation requirements, college and career readiness, student voice and leadership, dropout prevention and intervention, and online acceleration and credit recovery. He frequently engaged with civic and business leadership on matters that have an impact on the district’s success in achieving its mission to provide all students the opportunity to achieve the knowledge and skills necessary to become contributing citizens in our society. John was also the project director for the College Ready On Track Network for School Improvement, a Gates Foundation funded effort, which convenes 22 high schools to improve math equity for Black and Latinx students.
John served as Deputy Chief of Staff for DPS Superintendent Tom Boasberg from 2012 to 2016, handling a wide range of institutional priorities on behalf of the Chief of Staff and Superintendent. John led coordination and oversight in the implementation of the Denver Plan and the district’s core initiatives, and he served as a liaison between school district staff and the community. In conjunction with the Superintendent and Chief of Staff, John provided policy analysis and strategic consultation to the Board of Education and senior administration on major district issues.
In both roles, John has developed and led strategic partnerships for DPS, including co-chairing the board of the Denver Afterschool Alliance, serving on the boards of the Denver Opportunity Youth Initiative and Denver Education Attainment Network, coordinating joint initiatives with the Denver Housing Authority, and representing DPS on the governance council for the Globeville-Elyria-Swansea United Neighborhoods initiative through Mile High United Way. John was also the lead partner on the Mayor’s citywide student ID project – MY Denver Card – to provide all students in grades six through 12 free access to Denver Parks and Recreation facilities, libraries and cultural institutions. Prior to joining DPS, John served as Chief Communications and Strategy Officer for Adams 14, where he oversaw the strategic direction of the district and managed all communications and public relations initiatives. John also managed external partnerships, competitive grants, strategy and performance management, dropout prevention and graduation improvement, adult education programs, before and after school programs, the homeless student intervention program and district level discipline. For two school years, John spent 20 percent of his time as a classroom walk-through team leader, providing support to principals and teachers through informal coaching and feedback. As a former television producer, John’s passion for storytelling through video brought him to a career in education. Building on this passion, during his time in Commerce City, he developed the Adams 14 Film Festival as a way to ensure all students in the district had the opportunity to tell their own stories and could access technology in the classroom. John is an accomplished presenter and public speaker – representing DPS and previously Adams 14 at the local, state and national levels. He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in broadcast production management from the School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Colorado at Boulder. In his free time, John thrives on family fun with his two high school teenagers. He enjoys fly fishing, snowboarding, playing drums and experiencing live music, reading, and enjoying the beauty of Colorado with friends and family.
Rebecca has re-joined City Year Denver as the Managing Director, Development, to combine her expertise in corporate responsibility, education, and donor relations. She served with City Year Denver from 2015-2017 as the site’s first Corporate Partnership Director, creating strong relationships with City Year’s National partners and cultivating new corporate partnerships, many of whom are still partners and champions of City Year Denver today The majority of her career has been within Sales in the Hospitality Industry, most recently with Sage Hospitality as Associate Director of Sales for the Denver Marriott Tech Center. She assisted in managing the Sales Team that brought back a full-service Hilton to Denver, the first in twenty years (Hilton Denver City Center), and has had the pleasure of working for multiple hotel brands (Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott) within the United States and South America. In her spare time she enjoys spending time with her family doing outdoor activities, traveling, reading, baking, and laughing with family and friends.
Joshua is an educator and nonprofit manager who graduated from Washburn University with a B.A. in History and graduate degrees of M. Ed. Elementary Education and an M.Ed. Educational Leadership and Administration from Arizona State University. Prior to City Year, he served as an Assistant Principal of Instruction with Denver Public Schools and was the Director of Curriculum and Instruction with Breakthrough San Francisco. Joshua brings experience and a proven track record of success in education and AmeriCorps with a 7-year tenure with Teach for America, as a Corps Member, teacher, and Managing Director of Teacher Leadership Development. His broad educational background, AmeriCorps experience, and a strong passion for managing diverse teams will be invaluable as the Managing Director, Impact at City Denver, where he is responsible for meeting the site Impact goals and objectives, and creating an exceptional experience and outcomes for Americorps members, Impact managers, and ultimately schools and students.
Tony Lucero is excited to rejoin the City Year Denver team. Tony started in education as an AmeriCorps Member serving in Greater Philadelphia where he worked at a North Philly middle school. Once City Year Denver opened, he joined for five years as an Impact Manager supporting teams in West Denver elementary and middle schools.
Since then, Tony has worked in corporate and nonprofit Human Resources roles before becoming a business teacher in Denver Public Schools and as an Adjunct Professor at Community College of Denver, offering 12 business credits to DPS students. He is also the founder of First2Lead, a program to empower first-gen students in Denver to become next-gen business leaders. During his four years teaching, he was awarded the High School Educator of the Year by University of Colorado in 2020-21 school year. In an uniquely difficult year due to pandemic school shutdown.
Tony is Denver-born and raised in Southwest Denver. He is a DPS alum and excited to continue supporting Denver Public Schools. He earned a degree in Management at Colorado State University and his Master’s in Business Administration at Regis University. In his spare time, he enjoys time with his family who finally all live in Colorado for the first time, reading, running, and trying to convince himself to do a half marathon again.
Tin, a social development worker and strong advocate of children and youth development and empowerment, proudly joins City Year Denver as its Impact Director. Coming into this role, she brings a wide range of experience of performing varying roles from direct one-on-one, face-to-face casework, group work, and organizing to indirect macro-level related roles such as capacity building (individual and organizational), program management and administration, staff supervision, research, policymaking and networking. She believes that, given the proper support and opportunities, young people will rise up to become empowered and active agents of change.
She is also personally invested in programs focused on volunteerism and service. She attributes a part of her success as a person and as a professional to a Peace Corps volunteer she worked within her first job. This positive experience with a Peace Corps volunteer motivated her to work with Peace Corps in the Philippines and another AmeriCorps-funded non-profit organization serving Higher Education Institutions. Working with City Year melds together two of her passions, young people and national service.
Tin has a Bachelor's and Master’s Degree in Social Work and is currently working on a Master's in Political Science from the University of Colorado – Denver. In addition to English, she is fluent in Filipino/Tagalog and Bicol (a regional dialect in the Philippines). In her free time, she enjoys reading, baking, exploring the outdoors, and watching a D&D-based role-playing game called “Critical Role”.
Lucero Valderrama has worked in education since 2015 and has a true passion for serving and developing the whole student through culturally responsive methods. Previous to working with City Year, Valderrama served as a sixth-grade English Language Arts teacher in Kansas City, MO for three years. As a Latina immigrant and first-generation college student, Valderrama understands the importance of having BIPOC educators in schools for student success and strives to close that gap for students and education institutions. In her spare time, Valderrama enjoys nature walks, working out, watching movies, and spending time with family.
Check back soon to learn more about our amazing new teammate!
Meghan Randolph is honored to serve as the Development Operations & Events Manager for City Year Denver. She received her Bachelor's degree in Nonprofit Management from New York University and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Arts & Culture Management, with a focus on Mission-Driven Operations, from the University of Denver. Prior to joining City Year, Meghan worked predominantly in the Arts Education field in programmatic development and community outreach roles. She also has a background in event production, working as an independent contractor with local Denver companies to bring to life cultural street festivals and events of all types and sizes.
Meghan originally hails from the city of Chicago and has been a Denver resident since 2019. Outside of her professional life, Meghan enjoys spending time exploring Colorado with her partner and puppy, seeing live music, reading anything in the magical realism genre, making playlists for every occasion, and working on any number of creative projects including stained glass, weaving, metalsmithing, digital collaging, and many other mediums.
Mila Gaytan-Campos is proud to be a part of the City Year Denver team as the Community Partnerships Manager. Mila is originally from Zacatecas, Mexico; she grew up in Southwest Denver, attending Denver Public Schools all the way through high school. She attended the University of Colorado at Denver, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English. While in college, Mila completed two internships at central DPS high schools as a student teacher resident, where she continued to grow her experience and love for working with youth from diverse backgrounds. Following graduation, Mila moved to Madrid, Spain, where she had previously had the opportunity to study abroad, to teach English as a second language to middle and high school students from across the globe.
Since then, Mila has worked as a high school English teacher in DPS in the Northeast community. During this time, she has had the pleasure of serving as a New Teacher Ambassador, mentor teacher, and has even taken a group of students abroad! As the Community Partnerships Manager for City Year, Mila loves working with youth from the Denver community and supporting them in their personal and professional journeys. In her free time, Mila loves to travel and explore new places, visit a good coffee shop to read or write, and spend time with family and friends.
Jalisa, Impact Manager for City Year Denver, received her Bachelor's of Science in Sociology with a minor in Statistics from the University of Central Florida in 2017. She has 7 years of experience working in the non-profit sector with various roles ranging from Volunteer Coordinator managing a database of 1000+ volunteers to Site Director for an educational summer camp. She proudly served 2 years at City Year Dallas as an ACM and then as a Service Leader. She grew up as a military brat and has lived in 7 different states so far in life. Her passion for equitable education and children's accessibility to such have driven her thirst for knowledge in and out of work. When Jalisa is not working you can often find her learning to roller skate, painting, reading, or practicing yoga.
Dan Raupp is an Impact Manager at Denver North High School. Dan has a Bachelors degree in History from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, and an M.Ed in special education from Dominican University. Dan completed two years of AmeriCorps service with Teach For America. Prior to joining the City Year Denver team in 2022, Dan taught high school math for 7 years in Chicago Public Schools. Dan is dedicated to helping create a more equitable educational landscape for students across the country. In his free time, he enjoys seeing live music, cheering on Chicago sports teams, and playing spike ball.
Sydney is the proud Impact Manager at George Washington High School. They attended George Washington University and Knox College and hold a B.A. in International Affairs and Educational Policy. They spent their senior year conducting independent research on the equity of education structures after regime change in Greece and Bulgaria. Sydney is originally from Chicago, IL and served with the Chicago City Year Corps for two year before coming to Denver. They enjoy spending their time reading and making homemade treats for their cats.
Daniel Wallace is proud to be an Impact Manager at City Year Denver serving at DCIS Fairmont! Originally from the Chicagoland area, Daniel graduated from North Central College with a B.A. in Psychology and a minor in Leadership. He published his thesis about college students' limited access to mental health resources and the importance of implementing small-group support systems. He served as an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps Team Leader at the Pacific Region from 2021-2022. Through this position, Daniel had the opportunity to work with a variety of non-profit organizations centered around service, such as the Boys & Girls Club of Mason Valley, Camp Tuolumne Trails, and World Relief Modesto. Daniel is excited to be continuing his passion for service at City Year where prioritizing educational equity and investing in young people is so vital to the organization. Outside of work, Daniel enjoys hiking, playing sports, singing, and cooking!
Check back soon to learn more about our amazing new teammate!
Caitlin Burnett is proud to serve as an Impact Manager at City Year Denver. She is originally from Massachusetts and attended the University of New Hampshire, where she graduated with degrees in Anthropology and Sustainability. She had the privilege of working with several non-profit organizations during her time at UNH, including Project 351, Manomet, and the Indigenous New Hampshire Collaborative Collective. After she graduated, she served a year with City Year New Hampshire in a fourth-grade classroom in Manchester, NH. Inspired by her first year of service, she served a second year as a Service Leader at City Year Denver. She is so excited to be back at City Year Denver in this new role! In her free time she loves being outside, whether it’s hiking, running, camping, or gardening, as well as reading and cooking.
Brenna is from Arvada, CO, and received her B.A. from the University of Colorado in Boulder. In 2011-12, she served her corps year at City Year Boston, working with her favorite age group-- middle schoolers! After living in Boston and then northwestern Spain, she returned to her home community and remained in education. Since returning to City Year, Brenna has been a part of the staff team in Denver, Dallas, and Tulsa, and now supports 11 City Year sites in the West Region as part of the Recruitment and Admissions team. She is also a proud NOLS alum and loves connecting other AmeriCorps alumni with opportunities to use their Segal Education Award in creative ways as she did.
Jake Drollinger hails from Sheboygan, Wisconsin - also known as the Malibu of the Midwest. After graduating from high school, he decided to take a gap year and joined City Year in San Jose as an AmeriCorps member. He spent that year in service leading high school students learning curriculum and community-based projects. Feeling such a deep connection to the impact, he spent the following twelve-plus years working to share service through education as a pathway for young adults. Jake took on a variety of roles in the Corps Talent Acquisition department at City Year branches in San Jose, Milwaukee (Start-Up), Los Angeles, Denver, and remotely as a part of the national team. Some of Jake’s proudest accomplishments from his time at City Year include establishing CY Milwaukee’s first alumni board, developing a nationally implemented database management system, leading the effort in paperless admissions, and elevating operations strategy department-wide. Jake is excited to continue growing the university campus connections throughout Colorado.
