Meet Former Intern - Karlie Driscoll

Meet Karlie Driscoll

I worked as a Technical Theatre Intern from 2004-2008 while going to Oakland University. Upon my graduation, I worked at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre for a year before joining Teach for America and moving to Nashville, TN to work in underprivileged schools. While there I earned a Masters of Arts in Special Education, and spent the next ten years teaching middle school English to marginalized students in southeast Nashville. The final four years I served in administration first as a Dean of Students and then as a Middle School Principal.

Last year I made the decision to move out to California to be closer to my brother and nephews. I moved blind— no job, no place to live and in the middle of a pandemic but I knew it was where I wanted to be. It took one nervous summer under an apocalyptic orange sky to pull it all together, but I eventually accepted a position as the Program Director for College Living Experience in Monterey, CA, leading an organization that helps autistic young adults with autism go to college and gain independence. I have a service dog named Jelly Belly who works at my side with my students every day. We live in a studio a few blocks from the beach and are enjoying being Californians!

I often think fondly of my time at Meadow Brook— I spent so much time there that sometimes I feel like I went to college at the theatre instead of at Oakland University. My four years interning laid the foundation for the life I have now in a million different ways, and I’m grateful to have had such an experience as such a young adult. Thank you to all of you who supported the program and helped me to learn, create, and grow.