Each year the School of Social Work holds a Scholarship Awards Ceremony. It is a wonderful opportunity to bring together students, alumni and donors to recognize the outstanding academic achievements and professional contributions of our MSW, PhD and Non-Degree students. A highlight of the event is the special remarks by a donor, their family or a past scholarship recipient.

The 15th Annual Scholarship Awards Ceremony and Luncheon was held on April 8, 2014.  Celaura Estrada MSW ’09, recipient of the 2007 Raymond and Mary Borecki Buck Scholarship, gave the remarks.

Two graduating students, Christina Chiarelli-Helminiak and Krystal Rich, will receive the UConn Outstanding Senior Women Academic Achievement Award at a ceremony in Storrs on May 9, 2014.

Tina is a Ph.D. student and has been awarded Graduate Assistantships for five years, two by the School of Social Work and three by the Human Rights Institute. While at the Human Rights Institute, she served as the Assistant Director of the Undergraduate Programs in Human Rights from 2011 to the present. At the School of Social Work, her Graduate Assistantship consisted of course instruction.

Tina has taught six different MSW courses and has also served in the role of Research Associate on various studies, including: Human Rights Education Interdisciplinary Education; Integrating Human Rights Learning in the Social Work Curriculum; Building Relationships and Bridging Social Capital: An Inclusive Approach to Immigrant Civic Engagement with Libraries; Nurturing Families Network, Depression Improvement Study; National Domestic Violence Non-Residential Services and Support Study and Retention and Resiliency in Child Welfare Workers. While in the Ph.D. program, she has also published five articles. In March, she successfully defended her dissertation entitled, “Organizational Factors Affecting Burnout among Forensic Interviewers.”

Krystal RichKrystal Rich is an MSW student with a concentration in Policy Practice. She is completing her second year field placement in the Nancy A. Humphreys Institute for Political Social Work. She coordinated the 18th Annual Campaign School, created and disseminated information sheets on this year’s legislative priorities, as well as researched what different community groups are doing to address the issue of voter suppression.

Outside of school, Krystal works as a Crisis Counselor and Advocate at the Sexual Assault Crisis Service in New Britain where she is primarily involved in working with women and men who have been subjected to various abuses, including sexual assault and domestic violence. Krystal is also employed at Ability Beyond Disability where she is a Life Skills Assistant working with adolescent girls who have been removed from their homes due to allegations of abuse and/or neglect.

For the past two years Krystal has served as the Co-Chair of the Policy Practice Concentration for the Student Organization. She also serves at the student representative on the Move to Hartford Committee and the Student Representative on the Educational Policy Committee.

Getting a job after passing the bar can be tough. But 10 third-year law students in nine states are one step closer to winning a new position – the top prize in a unique contest – and fulfilling their dreams of becoming attorneys who advocate for children. One of the ten semifinalists is UConn School of Social Work alumna, Shaundricka Ranel MSW ’11.

BARBRI, a company that helps law school graduates prepare to take the bar exam has selected ten semi-finalists in its first-ever Public Interest Fellow competition. The winner will work at the global nonprofit Save the Children as a fellow in a year-long position created and funded by BARBRI.

“The job market for new lawyers is challenging,” said Mike Sims, an attorney and president of BARBRI. “We wanted to do something no one else has ever done to both encourage public service and benefit a nonprofit like Save the Children that does such important work at home and abroad.”

BARBRI designed the Public Interest Fellow program to promote social responsibility and increase awareness of alternative legal career paths. Contestants submitted short videos expressing why they want to work for the nonprofit dedicated to affecting immediate and lasting change for children in need across the country and around the world.

Most of the videos depict personal stories and experiences that inspired the students to go to law school and work with kids; the semi-finalists included imaginative elements that make their productions standouts. The common thread among all entrants is their desire to improve the lives of children, one of the society’s most vulnerable groups.

View video here: http://barbri.shycast.com/submission/show/4550 and vote for Shaundricka.