Outstanding Grad Spotlight: Lauren Dela Rosa

Editor’s Note: The College of Education is delighted to recognize the 11 students selected by their programs and departments as 2026 Outstanding Graduates. View all our honorees. 

Growing up in Sacramento, Lauren Dela Rosa was fortunate enough to have caring educators who made the classroom a safe and welcoming environment. Now, as a high school math teacher in the Bay Area, she takes joy in doing the same for her own students.

“Math is usually such a high anxiety subject for people,” she said. “I want my students to be able to find reward in their struggle.”

As a distance learner in SDSU’s Master of Arts in Teacher Leadership, Dela Rosa finally found the time and space she needed to further her goal of advancing as a teacher-leader. She relished the opportunity to take a deep dive into school data, interview students and reflect on her own leadership — an experience that allowed her to see herself in new ways. Dela Rosa chose lecturer and program advisor Michelle Shin as her Most Influential Faculty Member for her empowering lectures.

“It was really grounding to have a professor who valued and understood the importance of community,” Dela Rosa said. “She had such a good balance of pushing us to think about our areas for growth, our community's areas for growth and how our strengths could support that process.”