SDSU grad's pivot from teaching to policy lands her at Harvard Graduate School

Shaye Phung started her San Diego State University journey as an aspiring teacher. She leaves as an aspiring education policy change agent headed to graduate school at one of the world’s most prestigious universities — Harvard.

Phung, a Temecula native, is graduating with a bachelor’s degree in liberal studies, with an emphasis in elementary education, and double minors in leadership and cultural proficiency. She was recently one of 10 recipients of the 2025 Quest for the Best award, an honor bestowed upon high-achieving SDSU students for outstanding academic performance, community service and leadership development. 

The fact that she will be moving across the country to start on her master’s degree in education policy and analysis at the Harvard Graduate School of Education in a few months hasn’t fully set in for Phung, who said she applied “at the last minute” with low expectations. 

“I was actually set to go to USC for graduate school, but I decided to apply to Harvard and Columbia on a whim, and I figured if I got in, awesome, and if I didn’t, that was fine too,” Phung said. “But it stuck, and I was like ‘Oh, this changes things.’”

Phung, who has been active with the Associated Students Lobby Corps, learned she was accepted to both Ivy League institutions in March, right before she headed to Sacramento as part of a contingent of SDSU students meeting with legislators during the California Higher Education Summit. 

Phung said attending the conference, where students lobbied against proposed funding cuts to the California State University system, played a big role in her decision to attend Harvard. Her master’s program will focus on education policy and analysis more than general higher education, the emphasis of the master’s program at USC. 

“We were lobbying for the legislation that is being written specifically for California higher education systems, and I loved it; it was awesome,” Phung said. “And I started thinking, ‘This could be me, with a degree from Harvard.’”

Phung originally came to SDSU to graduate with her teaching credential to begin a teaching career, but some time during the spring semester of her second year, she had an epiphany. 

“I was like ‘I don’t like teaching. I’m actually not good at this,’” she said. “I had the hardest time in our field experiences and our practicum; I just wasn’t good.”

But Phung did enjoy mentoring first-year students as part of the AB Samahan student organization supporting Filipino American culture and students, and also similar aspects of the Division of Student Affairs and Campus Diversity. So, after discussing things with her adviser, she pivoted from teaching and leaned into cocurricular activities within the division. 

“I talked with my adviser, and they said, ‘Don’t change your major but just add to it, get into Student Affairs somehow,’ so I did,” Phung said. “The latter half of my college experience has been working with college students. I worked at the Registrar’s Office, I was a SOAR mentor in EOPOS, I worked in the Office of Employee Engagement, doing these things that are Student Affairs-centric, and I loved it.”

Along the way, Phung said, she had a number of mentors who poured into her, most notably Alex Castruita, who is an EOPOS (Educational Opportunity Programs, Outreach and Success) counselor. As part of the Quest for the Best process, Phung nominated Castruita as the faculty or staff member who had a significant impact on her personal growth and development. 

“He’s like the mean big brother I never had, but in the best way,” she said. “He will tell it to you straight, but will drop anything to pick you up.”

Phung said he was the first person to give her a real opportunity when she was shifting her focus from elementary education to student affairs, despite her not having any previous connection to EOP.

“He was the first person really to give me a chance to look for something different when I was making that transition from elementary education to student affairs when he hired me,” she said. “He gave me that chance by hiring me.”

“He reaches so many people, and I am really fortunate to have him in my life,” Phung said.

Castruita spoke equally glowingly about Phung, who he said changed his career for the better.

“Shaye has changed the trajectory of my professional career; she embodies leadership and care for those around her,” he said. “At Harvard, she is going to bring her wealth of knowledge and her passion for uplifting her village. She is going to be a valuable member of the Harvard community. I am so happy to have crossed paths with her.”

As she completes her time at SDSU, Phung said the sum of her college experience is much more than the classes she’s attended and the activities in which she participated. 

“I have definitely come to appreciate the role of education, and the experience of education, and the impact it has on people,” Phung said. “So much happened over four years that it could shape my mentality so quickly. I wouldn’t have expected to learn as much as I have to connect with as many people as I have; it has definitely given me a lifelong network.

“The content and learning is critical,” she said, “but the experience of being with different people, different backgrounds, learning together, experiencing together, and serving together, that is what makes my experience what it is.”

That lifelong network, she said, will be there with her as she embarks on this next chapter. 

“Making that jump to Harvard is definitely daunting, but I am excited,” she said. “I know I have a network that is cheering me on from down here. Even if they’re thousands of miles away, I know who is in my corner cheering me on, and that is empowering.”