Meet Kalhan!

My name is Kalhan Sparks. I am 19 years old and I have 4 years (ages 12-16) of experience being in the foster care system. I've lived in several group homes and foster placements and in those experiences, I have learned much about the world of justice and consequent injustice. 

I am currently a lived-experience member and co-founder of the 1999 Collective, a volunteer for the Utah Board of Juvenile Justice, and a special education paraprofessional at Philo T. Farnsworth Elementary. In the past, I have also mentored youth in foster care through First Star Academy after having graduated from the program myself.

While I do not wish to pursue a collegiate degree, I am a lifelong student and a wildly passionate learner of many subjects. As a member of the 1999 Collective, I aspire to provide the best possible service to anyone and everyone who is interested in the work of our program. I hope to show every human we come into contact with, that they are the key to their own success and the world is there to aspire for them instead of the alternative that they knew all too well. 

"My humanity is bound up in yours, for we can only be human together." --Desmond Tutu