ALUMNI: Alexandra Barbaria

By Paige Ochoa,
BlueDevilHUB.com Staff–

In high school, Alexandra Barbaria thought she knew what she wanted to do as her profession. However, it took just a few days in college to change her mind.

Graduating from Davis High in 2012, Barbaria set off for her new life at Oregon State University in Corvallis, Oregon.

“I feel like I hit the jackpot when it came to my college experience,” said Barbaria, due to the university having so many majors as well as giving students a chance to develop a diverse group of friends.

Barbaria believes that both Oregon State and DHS helped shape her into the person that she is today, including her career choice.

“I am the poster child when it comes to changing my mind about my career,” Barbaria said.

Originally majoring in sports medicine as a freshman, Barbaria realized that it was not the profession for her, and by the next school year, changed her major to cultural anthropology due to her interest in the worlds’ cultures and how distinct groups interact with each other.

“I’ve always felt that many kids including Alex, don’t always know how many possibilities are out there for them,” Barbaria’s father, Steve Barbaria, said.

He believed that exploring the world on her own would help Barbaria discover what she wanted to do in college and in life.  

She credits her change in major to the small size of DHS and the city of Davis. Because DHS is the only high school in the town, Barbaria believes that this is why she constantly felt the need to explore other states, the country and the world throughout her college education and her career.

Now working as a K-12 educator at the Museum of History and Industry in Seattle, Washington, Barbaria adores what she does. She is able to explain to museum-goers, the history of Seattle and its neighboring cities, the industries that have shaped the city, and what might happen in Seattle in the future.

“I try my very best to always have an open mind and heart, and to lead with kindness,” Barbaria said.