Blazing Her Own Trail: Sarah Kallis '18

Some people go through life waiting for things to happen. Others, like HIES graduate Sarah Kallis '18, are the ones who make things happen.

After leading the Upper School journalism program all four years at HIES, Ms. Kallis continued to pursue her passion, but did so in her own way. Ms. Kallis made a conscious decision to attend a college without a traditional journalism program. 

“I had a lot of fear about that potentially not working out, but I’m very happy in the position I’m in now, and I’m sure 18-year-old Sarah would be proud,” she added.

Ms. Kallis attended Georgia Tech, where she started a news magazine for the university – the 3484mag. She recruited several other HIES graduates also attending Tech to assist in the graphic design and storytelling.

“When I started the magazine at Tech, everything I learned to start that magazine I learned at HIES through the C&G magazine. I knew then I wanted to stay in journalism, and I always had faith that I would figure out what my next steps were, and it would become clear to me when it was time to take the next step,” she added.

Paving the road less travelled has been gratifying for Ms. Kallis. She is currently the politics reporter at Georgia Public Broadcasting (GPB) news, a PBS NPR station that covers the entire state of Georgia. 

“I do a mix of radio, TV, digital and social media for them during this legislative session, and I have a position on our TV show called ‘Lawmakers’, where I do daily TV reports on what goes on at the state capital,” she said. “For the rest of the year, I’m reporting on any other political news that’s happening in the state.”

For those who worked closely with Ms. Kallis while at HIES, her career choice does not come as a surprise. Looking back, Upper School teacher Danielle Elms recalls her time as Ms. Kallis’s journalism advisor:

“Sarah was always working on her craft. If you look back at her body of work, she was fearless. She knew this path was going to require more ingenuity, but she always thrived in a challenge.”

Ms. Kallis considers the resources available at HIES as the foundation of her current success.

“We [on C&G staff] were encouraged to move creatively and come up with new ideas and new innovations,” Ms. Kallis said. “How could we serve the community?  While we could focus on the process in the school magazine, we also figured out who we are in the world and what we wanted to do. Because we had the resources, we had the creative freedom to just focus on the product. I was able to focus on my reporting and refine my journalism skills. I am so grateful I had the freedom to create at HIES – it set me up for such success.”

Recently, Ms. Kallis shared her time at a HIES Fine Arts panel, where she discussed her route to where she is now and dropped plenty of wisdom on our Golden Bears.

“I think there's a little bit of stigma around pursuing a more creative career,” she said. “They may think ‘I’m not going to make any money’ or ‘It's just impossible’, so it was nice to talk to those students and encourage them. A more creative nontraditional career is a totally unattainable goal for them. They have the resources here at HIES to help their success.”

She added how it was “great to connect with the students,” and “nice to talk to them while they’re still deciding what they want to do.” 

Though many may move on with the more “traditional” approaches to whatever they do, Sarah Kallis '18 chose the proactive route, using her solid Holy Innocents’ background mixed with her own ingenuity to pave her way to success.