Autumn McDonald, Ed.M.'07, is thinking about the world and her place in it.

When asked what the appeal is of working in the nonprofit sector, Autumn McDonald, Ed.M.'07, answers simply, "The people."

She says, "I was always drawn to mission- and vision-driven organizations that saw a time or space when educational opportunities would be different, and those not receiving an outstanding education experience would."

Genesys Works is just the kind of people-driven organization she means. Based in Houston, the nonprofit in which McDonald serves as national director of strategic initiatives places low-income, urban high school seniors into challenging work environments such as Continental Airlines, Exxon, and NASA. Its goal is to raise students' confidence to the point where higher education and professional futures are a given. Since the organization was founded in 2002, about 95 percent of Genesys Works' graduates have enrolled in college immediately following the completion of high school; many of them are the first in their families to do so.

This degree of success doesn't surprise McDonald, having seen the progress firsthand.

"I could see this transition happening in individual students who were becoming more excited and confident about their futures and simultaneously taking steps to achieve it in the internships, in school, and in their pursuit of postsecondary education," she says. "[Through the program,] their belief of what is possible is changed, as is their desire to achieve success and [their] confidence in their ability to do it."

As national director of strategic initiatives, McDonald has helped expand Genesys Works into other cities. The St. Paul, Minn., branch -- which opened in 2008 -- boasts participation from Fortune 500 companies like 3M, Ecolab, and Land 'O Lakes. Chicago opened earlier this year, with a New York branch soon to follow. The expansion is a big reason why McDonald, who started as a consultant, decided to accept a permanent role with the organization.

"I was excited to see how Genesys Works planned to take the program beyond impacting a few hundred students, and wanted to become a part of that process," she says.

And the flexibility doesn't hurt. McDonald also runs her own company, Catalyst Education Consulting, allowing her to stay involved in all the diverse areas of education that interest her, from policy to research to curriculum design, as well as meet others who, like her, want to affect the education sector for the better.

"It's great to work with people who are passionate about the same issues, and there are some truly brilliant people in this field," she says. "It is a pleasure to work alongside them and be thought partners, trying to tackle big issues on a whiteboard."