Catalina Alvarez,
Parent Lead Assistance Network (PLAN)

I am a part-time social work intern student at Parent Led Assistance Network (PLAN). I am happy to say that I have succseefully completed one semester as an intern at PLAN and have already started my second school semester, which will finalize in May of 2006. I am really interested in continuing my internship placement at PLAN because I have seen how my potential and experience in social work practice has grown throughout the time I have been at PLAN.

As I completed my sophomore academic year at Sacramento State University after taking the social work course 125 A (Basics of Social Work Practice) I was determined to become a social worker. After declaring social work as my major in my junior year, I continued taking social work courses. The more I learned about the different types of services I could offer with a degree in social work and the fundamental positive impacts that social workers have on peopl, I was eager to find an internship placement that would provide me with the opportunity of using all my book and classroom learning into real life practice and intervention. I feel proud to say that PLAN provided me with the opportunity that I needed to enhance my learning.

It is with happiness, enthusiasm, responsibility and energy that I began my second internship semester. I now completely feel part of the staff as I understand that my ideas and quality performance in the program play an important role in the overall progress and quality service of PLAN. I am aware that along with happiness and enthusiasm come new challenges; however, I am determined to use my knowledge and potential to accomplish anything at my disposition.

With the valuable practice experiences from my internship placement at PLAN and any monetary assistance available my goal of moving into the Masters and Doctoral programs will be enforced. I would like to continue with my education and get my Masters degree in family Counseling and my Doctorate degree in Sociology. I feel that the more prepared I am in terms of education the more liable I will be to provide quality service to the public.

Jill Cox,
Sierra View, Rio Linda School District

My experience in the social work field is the culmination of personal, professional and educational opportunitiesin which I continue to utilize in order to become a successful social worker. At present, I am enrolled in the Master Degree program in Social Work and am employed with the Rio Linda Union School District as a Comprehensive Student Support Outreach Consultant. My undergraduate degree is in the concentration of Adult Education with a credential in Parent Education. I also hold a Dropout Prevention Credential from the Department of Continuing Education as CSU, Sacramento. My current position has allowed me the opportunity to develop interpersonal relationships with students and their families as well as learn to collaborate and utilize resources within the North Highlands community.

Education has provided a wealth of educational experiences for me to explore through my professional journey. I began my career as a preschool teacher, continued working with children in after school enrichment programs, provided services to students and their families in an alternative educational setting, and wish to prusue career opportunities in education upon completion of my graduate program. I feel as though I have attained the necessary skills to enrich the lives of students and their families. I hasl have a clear understanding of the rold of a school social workder within the school comminuty.

In the Master's of Social Work program, I am learning about social inequalities that exist currently and historically in mainstream American culture. I understand that public administration and policies over the past two centuries have and continue to institutionally oppress vulnerable populations within this country. I realize that we live in a very polarized society. The rich in this country continue to gather wealth while the poor are marginalized and continue to dwell in impoversihed conditions. I see evidence to this fact in the North Highlands community wherein I am employed. High poverty students entering into public education do not have access to the same resources as upper/middle class students. They are disadvantaged in many ways. Many have not attended preschool programs or formal "training" before entering public school. Some lack home support because families are burdened with the stressors of poverty or work much of the day to meet the basic needs of the entire family. In this way, high poverty students need extra support provided through the school and surrounding community.

It is my desire to find ways of building support on the micro, meso, and macro level environment. I recently wrote and was funded for the Latino Family Literacy Project. This program helps to bridge literacy resources to our Latino families in the North Highlands community. I am in the process of reseraching further opportunities to support our neighboorhood and hope to one day extend the skills I am aquriting in the Social Work Graduate Program to help disenfranchised populations in nearby communities. Thank you for the opportunity of being awarded as the Student Leadership Intern.

Sara Granda,
UC Davis Medical Center

At age 17, I incurred a life-altering disability. As a result of a rollover car accident I am paralyzed from my shoulders down and fully dependent on a ventilator to breathe. While I relearned the life I knew prior to my disability at Children's Hospital in Seattle, Washington, I was drawn to help children with disabilities and advocate for their needs. During the eighteen months I spent initially in five different hospitals I became passionate to become a social worker. I began coursework at Yuba College in Woodland but at the time I had to return to the hospital.

After my discharge from Santa Clara Valley Medical Center in San Jose, California I continued my coursework as a social worker and started to work with the California Legislature. I solicited sponsorship from Senators and Assembly members of legislation to protect individuals who want to live at home despite their disabilities. SB 643 awaits the Governor's signature any day. I have lobbied and testified before both Senate and Assembly committees with a successful result. I completed my undergraduate degree in December of 2004.

As the end of my undergraduate career neared I felt I needed to advocate for my clients' needs from a different angle. In June of this year I was finally able to take the Law School Admission Test (LSAT). I am applying to several local law schools this October for admission to Law School next year. My ultimate goal is to work as an attorney in public policy as it pertains to legislation to protect underrepresented populations.

The suffering I have witnessed and that I have experienced myself has fueled my desire to work with underrepresented individuals. As an undergraduate and in high school I worked with the Migrant Centers in Dixon, Davis, and Woodland. I attended church as Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Sacramento, a predominately Latino congragation all throughout my childhood and adolescent years. I have worked and volunteered with many other disadvantaged individuals and communities. Being a woman with a disability and a member of an ethnic minority gives you a different view of the world around you. I speak Sapnish fluently. My father is a first generation immigrant from South America. Those two factors have served as the greatest lessons and gifts to be able to understand, empathize with, and ultimately advocate for this population. I hope to be able to reach my ultimate goal which would allow me to continue making a difference in society.

Mayra Torres,
Families First

I am a harworking, honest, dedicated person, and I am very passionate about the career path I have chosen. I have had four years of experience in the social services field and absolutely know it is where I was born to be. I have the compassion and desire to help people in need and with mental health issues. I am particularly drawn to children and teens because of the potential for change that I seen in them.

I am currently a graduate student in the Social Work department here at Sacramento State. I received a Bachelors of Art in Psychology from the UNiversity of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). While at UCSB I was a member of St. Mark's Catholic Church. With the fellow students at St. Mark's I participated in community service, church fundraisers, and I was a part of the Parish Pastoral Team (PPT). While a part of PPT, I represented the Latino community and helped organize church events with them. My community serveice involvement included going to the local homeless shelter to tutor the children, help make meals, and help clean. Additionally, we went to the local juvenile hall to provide ministry to the youth if they wished or just to talk and play games with them. Lastly, I helped plan, organize, and run the Auction Dinner, which is St. Mark's largest fundraiser of the year.

I was also a member of Hermanas Unidas, Inc. (HaU), a Latina organization. As a group we participated in frequent community service projects most commonly with the Latino community, and provided a support system for one another. We organized a yearly mentor program for underprivileged, Latino high school students. Through this program the students were able to visit UCSB for free and spend two days and one night to experience what college would be like. Students were able to sit in on a lecture, eat lunch in the cafeteria, get a tour of campus, and have their questions about college and the application process answered. Our main goal with this program was to encourage the students to go to college and not be afraid of the process.

Cristina Tucker,
Latino Coalition for a Healthy California

I am a very passionate person with my heart in social justice. I was a social worker before I had even heard the term. Where there appeared to be an injustice, I jumped in to fight it.

A crucial part of my childhood was spent in a small, Mexican city named Saltillo. This time was equally invigorating and fantastic as it was enlightening and depressing. Not only did I gain a language, an adopted culture, and a new vision of life, but also acknowledgement of a mast social inequality which would ultimately guide my career interests.

Much later, after completing a BA and an MA in Spanish, I began teaching in a Jesuit high school in San Francisco. I was asked to incorporate social injustice into every lesson. This was phenomenal! each year my lessons included more and more social justice issues and required such a sophisticated level of language that I became interested in only teaching the upper division classes. I soon moved and taught as two other schools and began to realize that most teenagers come to Spanish class "at most" to learn Spanish and not to be bombarded with depressing stories by the likes of Rigoberta Menchu or asylum statistics published by Amnesty International.

Luckily, through some personal experiences and contacts, I was introduced to the field of social work. I found my place! My interest in social work is primarily on the larger systems. I gravitate towards work on poverty, immigrant rights, oppression, discrimination, persecution, human rights, and social and health policy. I am fascinated and outraged by the state of affairs in many of the Spanish-speaking countries that so many Californians call "home." Yet more importantly, I find it paramount to uncover our country's role in the sad state of affairs abroad and to work to change injustices at every level.

For my Masters thesis I am studying immigrant rights, immigration policy at the federal and state levels, and the need for improved immigration legislation in California. It is shocking to read that many of the problems that now face undocumented workers were deliberate decisions made decades ago between large farm owners and politicians.

My goals include educating the public and the legislature in California about our need for immigrant labor and culture, and their need for the U.S., for not just a job hgere, but a new home. I would like to work towards decent and adequate living arrangements, affordable nutritious food, health care and education for all Californians, regardless of their place of birth.