Connor Henderson L’26

Connor completed his BSc degree at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, where he studied social inequality in the United States and around the world. After graduation, he became a counselor at a Title 1 neighborhood school in Hartford, Connecticut, where he helped students from traditionally underserved communities face educational disparities by creating and executing post-secondary plans.

Seeking a greater ability to challenge these disparities, Connor completed his M.Ed. degree as part of the Critical Studies of Race, Class, and Gender cluster at the University of California, Berkeley. His research focused on the role of culture in the reproduction of social inequities through education. During this time, Connor also worked as a grant writer and counselor at SOAR for Youth, a non-profit organization supporting foster youth in the Bay Area.

After graduate school, Connor moved to Colombia, where he worked as a hiking guide with Kinkaju Caminantes, an organization that helps young people from Medellin’s impoverished neighborhoods to find careers in the city’s lucrative outdoor tourism industry. After COVID forced his return to the USA, Connor hiked the 275-mile Long Trail in 2020 and the 3100-mile Continental Divide Trail in 2021.

Connor then returned to SOAR for Youth as the manager of academic and professional development programs. There, he developed and ran counseling, mentorship, and academic support programs aimed at eliminating barriers to success for foster youth. In this position, Connor was fortunate to spend much of his time counseling individual young people through everything from daily challenges to life crises.

As an educator and a student, Connor has always striven to support marginalized members of his communities. As an attorney, he intends to continue and expand upon his work as an advocate for vulnerable youth and families.