The quintessential middle child. The peacemaker, the listener, the negotiator. With these qualities, it was no surprise to my family when I said I wanted to go to school for social work. When I began my college search, I had two major “must haves”. One was that I wanted the school to be in a large metropolitan city. An older sister of mine went to college in D.C. so in true middle child fashion, I saw the awesome benefits of living in a large city secondhand and now I got to steal her idea and have my own opportunity to explore a fun city! The second criteria I was looking for in a school was was a good social work program. Even though I had never been to Austin, when I learned that UT Austin’s Steve Hick’s School of Social Work is ranked in the Top 10 Social Work Programs in the country, I knew I had to apply. Once I visited campus and toured the social work school, I knew this was the place for me. I am eager to make a positive impact in this world working with vulnerable populations such as children and immigrants, and I am excited to begin this journey at The University of Texas.

Major
Social Work

What drew you to the Forty Acres Scholars Program? 
I love a good challenge. I am competitive with myself and on paper (or more specifically on my computer screen) the Forty Acres Scholars Program is the ultimate challenge of personal development for my college career. I knew that in a university of over 50,000 students, I wanted to somehow find a small community of individuals with the same passion and drive as I have. What I found on Finalist Weekend was that Forty Acres provided me with an opportunity to have a close-knit community of diverse students as well as a network of alumni and faculty. Their differing backgrounds and interests will broaden my view of the world we live in, challenging me to become a more passionate, compassionate, and empathetic student, friend, leader and person.