Social Work Alumni

Alumni Spotlight

Alum Justin Bennett leads Social Work Interstate Licensing Compact effort

December 5, 2024 | Via UMSL Daily

Bennett sits on the Missouri State Committee for Social Workers and serves as the compact commissioner for Missouri, the first state to sign on to the compact.

Alumni Spotlight

Social work graduate Brianna Jones works to serve UMSL and the St. Louis community

December 2, 2024 | Via UMSL Daily

Jones is president of the Student Social Work Association, and her work on campus earned her the 2024 UMSL Student Leadership Award for Outstanding Service to the Community.

Alumni Spotlight

Social work graduate Dondi Baldwin advocates for students and community members with disabilities

June 20, 2024 | Via UMSL Daily

Baldwin created a support group for people with traumatic spinal cord injuries and is currently working with the Office of Inclusive Postsecondary Education’s Succeed Program.

Alumni Spotlight

August graduate Elexis Hubbard applies social work skills, volunteer experience at UMSL’s Community Innovation and Action Center

June 11, 2024 | Via UMSL Daily

Hubbard has been working with the Saint Louis Zoo to help develop a youth program for the WildCare Park opening in north St. Louis County in 2027.

Alumni Spotlight

The Next Step

March 21, 2023 | Via Webster Kirkwood Times

Dawn Smith was a scholarship recipient who decided to go back to school in 2011 while being a full time caretaker for her mother. When she decided to attend St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, she searched everywhere for scholarships. When she heard about The Next Step, she knew she had found the perfect fit.

“When I started, my only initial intention was to receive my associates in human services,” she said. “They made it to where I could go to school and still provide for my mother, which was one of my primary things at that time. I had no other help with that. The Next Step made it doable.”

Alumni Spotlight

Finding the Right Fit & Increasing Your Impact: Krista’s Story

January 13, 2022 | Via Community Living Inc.

Recent BSW program graduate, Krista Strahm, finds the right fit with Community Living Inc. as a Support Coordinator who helps disabled adults achieve their highest potential.

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