A uniquely Escondido story.
Christi Knight is a 1994 graduate of EUHSD whose passion for public service emerged during her high school years. As a student at Orange Glen and Valley High School, Christi thrived in various leadership positions and was chosen for the role of Student Board Member to the Escondido Union High School District Board of Education in 1993. Twenty years later, she returned to the board room to tell her story, this time as a member of the Board of Education.
As a junior at Orange Glen High School, Christi was increasingly feeling a sense of mediocrity and found herself less and less interested in school. She began working an after-school job that ignited a sense of self-worth and value she had not experienced before. Christi began looking for an educational alternative. She learned of an independent study program through EUHSD, located on the campus of Valley High School, which would allow her to do her schoolwork at home so she could work more. However, there was a two-month waiting list and she was told she would have to wait. When you are 15 years old, patience is not your strongest character trait.
Despite the reluctance of her parents, Christi asked to temporarily enroll at Valley High School. As a student who was not behind in credits and doing well academically, she was not the typical student at Valley High. Her first two weeks at Valley were spent in the Response-ability Training Program, where she learned the values of integrity, accountability and self-determination. When the time came, Christi proudly passed up her opportunity for independent study and chose to graduate from Valley High School, being named 1994 class valedictorian.
In her professional life, Christi spent 13 years working in public policy for the County of San Diego as an adviser to the Board of Supervisors and the Health and Human Services Agency, developing policy initiatives on issues related to health, education, social services, and public safety. Since 2021, Christi has focused her work closer to home with the Palomar Health Foundation, where she writes grants and has successfully secured funding for community-based programs and services such as One Safe Place, Middle School M.D. and the new Palomar Behavioral Health Institute expected to open late 2025.
With her unique regional experience in public service, Christi has built strong relationships with community leaders across all sectors and has developed ongoing partnerships that support our students and their families. She’s advocated for and secured grant funding, on behalf of the elementary and high school districts, to provide workforce development opportunities for 8th graders through Middle School M.D. and with our graduating seniors through the Palomar Health Pathways Program.
Christi serves as the EUHSD Board Member for Escondido Education COMPACT. She has been a champion for their Achievement Center, a successful youth diversion program in partnership with the County Probation Department. Christi is a fierce advocate for making meaningful investments in our youth before they turn to drugs and alcohol, gang involvement, or encounter law enforcement. She fundamentally believes in the power of community-based mentorship and helping our youth to find their purpose, connect with their passion, and realize their full potential.
Christi is a wife and mother of two young boys - Diego and Abraham. Christi was married in 2007 to Germán Sarmiento. Germán was a high-school teacher in Colombia before immigrating to the United States. Christi and Germán shared a passion for inspiring youth. In 2010, they bought a home in Christi’s hometown of Escondido and welcomed their son Diego in 2011. When Diego was only three months old, Germán was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. Over the following 18 months, he underwent multiple rounds of chemotherapy, countless blood transfusions and two bone marrow transplants with the hope of sustaining his life. Sadly, Germán died when Diego was 20 months old.
As a young widow and single working mother, Christi vowed to live a life filled with gratitude and love and to be an example of resilience and hope for her young son.
Those qualities of grace and grit were what attracted Abraham King while attending the Orange Glen 20-year high school reunion in the summer of 2014. Abraham and Christi were married at Maple Street Plaza in downtown Escondido in 2015 and proudly welcomed their son Abe II in 2016. Their family lives in the Old Escondido neighborhood and are actively engaged in making Escondido a community everyone can be proud to call home.