Our Team Leader of the Month is University of Colorado Denver’s Kalleen Steele ! Kalleen was an active duty F-16 pilot in the Air Force for 12 years and has been in the Reserves for the past three. She is now in her second year of a Clinical/Mental Health Counseling graduate program and plans to go on to work with veterans and military families once she completes it. Stephani Loxton, CU Denver’s Veterans Services Coordinator, nominated Kalleen, saying, “Her approach with each student is individualized and attentive, and she makes every student she speaks with feel like they have a place to come and a community.”

Given her understanding of how the transition from the military into higher education can be a difficult time for many, Kalleen thought that the opportunity to be a Team Leader was perfect for her. “The everyday part of building the social network and making people feel that we’re here is so important. You can see how much an office and people that care can really soften people’s transition.” For Kalleen, the most rewarding aspect of being a Team Leader is being able to connect struggling veterans to mental health professionals and knowing that they’re getting the help they need. She describes her experience as a Team Leader as “inspiring” and has particularly enjoyed seeing the amount of support her PAVE team members provide one another. Thank you for your steadfast and consistently great work managing the PAVE Team at CU Denver, Kalleen!