Katarina Osdale Finds Purpose in a Full-Circle Return to KCSOS

Katarina Osdale, a product of KCSOS’s RISE program, overcame profound childhood grief and substance addiction. Now, she is a CSUB transfer student working directly for the organization that once helped rebuild her life.

Joining the inaugural cohort of student employees at CSUB’s new KCSOS-run dining operations, Osdale views her new role as a triumph over her past and an important step on her journey to empowering other vulnerable youth.

“It feels like I’ve been boasting about it to family and friends since day one,” Osdale said. “ I feel like everything’s falling into place, how it needed to be. All of the issues led me to this.”

Eighteen months ago, CSUB faced an unexpected transition when its previous food service provider, Aramark, ended its contract. Instead of defaulting to another profit-driven campus dining model, CSUB approached KCSOS to explore a new collaboration for its campus dining services. Because KCSOS is a nonprofit public entity, the operation is designed to cover costs while prioritizing food quality, affordability and service, while also creating employment opportunities for students.

Osdale is currently navigating her first semester at CSUB as a transfer student from Bakersfield College. She had been searching for flexible employment that would allow her to balance her academic obligations with her eight-year-old son’s school schedule. When KCSOS offered her the position, Osdale was overcome with relief.

Her road to this milestone, however, was paved through extraordinary hardship.

The devastating loss of her mother at age nine marked the beginning of a difficult period in Osdale’s life that included substance use. Her struggles disrupted her education, leading to her expulsion from high school and sending her through a succession of community schools. After earning her GED in 2012, she spent over a decade trapped in addiction before turning her life around three and a half years ago.

Following her return home from rehabilitation, Osdale, by then a mother, made the decision to step away from traditional employment to prioritize her recovery and raise her son. She continued her education, earning an Associate Degree in Sociology from Bakersfield College before transferring to CSUB to pursue her bachelor’s degree in the same field. Drawing from her own lived experiences, Osdale has her sights set on a future career in crisis intervention, adolescent substance abuse counseling and youth advocacy within school systems and juvenile justice programs.

Her student job with KCSOS brought her full circle back to the very institutions that witnessed her early struggles.

She spent her first week at KCSOS working in the Central Kitchen, honing her culinary skills and preparing student meals. Seeing fresh fruits and vegetables arrive each day and helping package them into school lunches gave her a sense of pride and purpose. Once the CSUB dining facilities were ready for employees, she and the rest of the KCSOS student workers moved into their respective assignments across campus.

Above all, she is thrilled to have found a warm, affirming professional environment that views her past as the foundation of her strength and resilience.

“There’s negative stereotypes on drug addicts, on people who’ve been to juvenile hall, on people who’ve been into psych hospitals, on people who’ve been in community schools, and to know that my bosses don’t look at it that way is really nice, because it’s who I am and it built who I am,” she expressed.

Osdale said she is grateful to work in an environment where she no longer feels the need to hide her past. That sense of belonging has also deepened her interest in KCSOS programs that support young people facing challenges similar to those she once experienced.

For someone who once struggled to envision a future for herself, she now sees a path forward — and an opportunity to help others find theirs.

“KCSOS covers so much ground and so many different areas that it gives you hope,” Osdale said with a smile. “It really does.”