A proud graduate of Ukiah High School, Sarah Walsh attended the University of California Santa Cruz as an undergrad but dropped out for a year to study Italian in Italy. Walsh returned to UCSC to complete her BA in American Studies and later her MA in Education/Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at New York University. She has taught English at an American University in Nicaragua, worked in the Studies in American Language Program at San Jose State University, and worked as an English Language Fellow for the U.S. State Department in Venezuela, where she trained future Venezuelan English teachers. Walsh was hired in 2008 as the first full-time English as a Second Language faculty member at Mendocino College, where she currently serves language learners in both Lake and Mendocino Counties.