John Baker, Journalism, 1998, worked several years for multiple Bay Area newspapers before entering public service. He went back to school, earning an MPA from San Francisco State University, and currently works as a local government liaison for the State of California.  He was elected to the South San Francisco Unified School District’s Board of Trustees in 2016, and currently serves as its president.

After graduating from Humboldt State University, Alissa Sobo, Chemistry, 2010, stayed in the community and opened a restaurant called Naan of the Above. Alissa sold this business and moved to the bay area to teach science in after school programs. Alissa then had two children, and while staying at home with them, taught herself to code. She built a web application called Ample that was recently mentioned in the New York Times. She now works as a software engineer for Mozilla.

Paul Deis, Communication, 1999, retired from the Department of State as a Foreign Service Officer in 2009. Paul earned a Master of Arts from the University of Florida in 2011 and a Ph.D. in 2019.

Michael Fritschi, Environmental Resources Engineering, 2005, is currently enjoying working as the District Manager for the South Suburban Sanitary District in Southern Oregon. Life is exceptionally good, and in complete balance with his wife and jack Russell.

After graduating from HSU, Laura Aguada Hallberg, World Languages and Cultures, 1993, returned home to the San Francisco Bay Area. She will be celebrating 24 years in education this August. After almost 20 years as a high school teacher (5 of them as a German teacher), she made the move into higher ed and is now an assistant professor and program lead of the EdD in Transformative Action in Education at University of the Pacific.

Sophia Remer, International Studies, 2014, went on to culinary school in Sonoma County after graduating from HSU and worked as a professional baker. She has recently moved to Pittsburgh, PA with her partner (also a Humboldt graduate) who is getting his phD in Pollination Biology. Remer is applying to the Master of Arts in Food Studies with an MBA dual degree program from Chatham University to combine her backgrounds in food and cultural studies.

After graduating, Christopher Swarth Biological Sciences, 1978, moved back home to Oakland where in 1983 he received his MS in Zoology from Cal State East Bay. After working for Point Reyes Bird Observatory, Lawrence Hall of Science (UC Berkeley) and Diablo Valley College, he married in 1987 and moved to Maryland. There he spent 23 years as director of the Jug Bay Wetlands Sanctuary, one of the components of the Chesapeake Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve. In 2013, he moved back to northern California to work and teach at UC Merced, where he was the director of the 6,500 acre Vernal Pools and Grassland Reserve adjacent to campus until he retired in 2016. He lives in Mariposa.

After graduating from HSU Spencer Ruelos, Anthropology, Critical Race, Gender & Sexuality Studies, 2013, went on to receive his Masters in Sexuality Studies from San Francisco State University. There he wrote a master’s thesis titled: “EveryoneGames: Exploring Queer Gamer Identity and Community,” where he examined the worldmaking practices of LGBTQ gamers in digital and physical spaces. While at SFSU, Spencer received the prestigious CSU Sally Casanova Pre-Doctoral Fellowship. He is currently continuing his studies of queerness, video games, and technology as a PhD student in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine.

Heidi Gehlhaar Oriol, Environmental Resources Engineering, 2001, is a licensed Civil Engineer and has worked for water and wastewater utilities in the Bay Area and Sacramento since her graduation from HSU in 2001. She currently works as a Senior Civil Engineer in the Legislative and Regulatory Affairs office for the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District (Regional San) and the Sacramento Area Sewer District (SASD). She enjoys her role as a regulatory advocate and is also very excited to be supporting a project to bring recycled water to agriculture in southern Sacramento County. Heidi believes use of recycled water will reduce groundwater pumping, raise groundwater levels, increase flows in nearby streams, and improve wetland and vernal pool habitats.

After having completed two years of Peace Corps service in Nicaragua John Soener, International Studies, 2016, will be attending graduate school at Indiana University. John will be pursuing a Masters in Public Affairs, focusing specifically on nonprofit management and policy analysis. His International Studies and Spanish degrees were a great way to start his career in public service and Peace Corps was an incredible career booster that has provided him incredible opportunities to fund graduate school.