Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Taw works in numerous roles, including with the Albert Lea school district, the Police Reserves and at his church

Albert Lean Sa Taw has found a passion in helping other people.

Whether it’s interacting with Karen students and their families as a success coach at Albert Lea High School, serving the community on the Albert Lea Police Reserves or strengthening families in his role as assistant pastor at Zion Karen Baptist Church, Taw loves to be involved in the community.

“When you’re involved with the community, you know what is going on and you get to know all of the people,” he said. “I feel the joy when I help people, and I just want to be someone who the younger generation can look up to and follow — see what I am and just be a good example for our younger kids.”

Taw, 32, and his family moved to the United States in 2008 from a refugee camp in Thailand.

He said when they first arrived in the country, they lived in St. Paul but in 2011 moved to Albert Lea.

He lived in Albert Lea off and on in the years that followed, attending Riverland Community College for law enforcement but then ultimately changing course one semester before completing that degree to take on a degree in Christian ministry at Judson University in Elgin, Illinois.

After completing that degree he moved back to Albert Lea to be closer to his family, including his mother, father and siblings. He is the third of nine children and is now married and has two young children.

He said he likes that Albert Lea is more affordable to live in than the Twin Cities and that it has less crime. He also likes that a person can get involved in many activities in small towns.

“I prefer to live in a small town,” he said.

Taw has worked off and on with the Albert Lea school district, starting in 2013, first as an interpreter.

When he came back to the district in 2018, he worked initially as a success coach, then as an English language teacher, and now again is a success coach.

He said his role in the position is to help Karen families through communication, to help Karen students with their education and to sometimes translate paperwork.

He has a daily schedule and works at Albert Lea High School.

Mary Jo Dorman, executive director of teaching and learning for Albert Lea Area Schools, said Taw is loved at the high school.

“Because of all of his connections, Taw has a great presence at the high school and a majority of the kids know him,” Dorman said. “He really garners a lot of respect from the youth at the high school. The high school staff love him.”

Dorman said the role of success coaches primarily is to support students — closing any language barriers — and to communicate with families.

She said teachers can’t call home for a Karen student if the parents don’t speak English, so teachers ask success coaches to make calls home for them. When school is canceled for weather or the district makes other mass messages to parents to let them know about things that are happening, it is often the success coaches who make those messages to distribute to the Karen families. They also communicate about parent-teacher conferences and attend conferences to translate.

She said many of the families — because they cannot communicate with English-speaking staff at the school — will call Taw and the other success coaches if they have questions.

She said Taw is a collaborative person who understands that to help bring down the barriers for Karen families, he needs to work with school district personnel and let them know when there are barriers. He and the other coaches have also taught district staff much about the Karen culture.

“His voice is just so incredible in helping guide us …” Dorman said. “He just has great perspective and knows what families need through all of his work and all of his positions.”

Taw, who has had two other siblings also work as success coaches, said it makes him happy when he sees students work hard and find success.

Outside of his job with the school district, Taw works as an assistant coach for the junior varsity and C-squad soccer teams, as well as the track and field team.

Taw joined the Albert Lea Police Reserves in 2019, a role in which he said he assists the full-time officers at community events and crashes and with things such as traffic control as needed.

Albert Lea Police Department Sgt. Jay Crabtree, who oversees the Police Reserves program, said Taw has been called upon to translate on numerous calls with Karen individuals where police are having trouble understanding the individuals.

“He’s always been available to assist,” Crabtree said.

He said Taw always comes to meetings with a big smile on his face, is a good listener and jumps in on tasks and projects that need to be done. He was voted the Reserve Officer of the Year for the city in 2022.

“He’s always putting the citizens of Albert Lea first in his world,” Crabtree said.

“He’s a great link between the Karen community, the Albert Lea Police Department and the city of Albert Lea,” Crabtree said. “It’s really invaluable with his experience and wanting to help out the city of Albert Lea.”

Crabtree said Police Reserves officers go through much of the same training as licensed officers, including defense driving school and use of force training.

Taw also works as assistant pastor at Zion Karen Baptist Church on Clark Street, again helping youth and families and assisting the senior pastor as needed, including providing some preaching in the senior pastor’s absence.

He estimated on average about 120 people attend the church regularly.

For him, being involved in the community has helped him get to know Albert Lea and its people, and he hopes it will help inspire other Karen youth to do the same.