WNMU Social Work major Madeleine Trevino started her social work studies at Eastern New Mexico University in her hometown of Roswell, NM. But during her second year in the program, her father died, and she found a need to take some time away from school.
Because the ENMU social work program uses a cohort system, meaning that students move through the courses in a set order, Trevino knew she would not be able to just resume her program when she was ready to return to school; she would have to wait for the next cohort. Instead, she said, she started looking at other options and found that she could complete her degree online through WNMU.
Now in the final semester of her program, Trevino, who is a NM Opportunity Scholarship recipient, said she was inspired to go into social work by her mother. “I am a second-generation social worker,” she said. “My mother worked for CYFD [the New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department] for 20-some years. I saw the work that she did, the children she helped, the connections she was able to make, the community. That was what I wanted to do.”
While Trevino was drawn to social work, like her mother, she does not plan to work with CYFD. “That takes such a special person to do,” she said. “I don’t know that I would survive very long in that field.”
Instead, said Trevino, she wants to move into macro social work, which focuses on systemic change. “I want to change policy,” she said. “I want to get in there and do upriver work and really change things.”
Trevino has already had a taste of policy advocacy through her internship with Roswell Independent Schools. Working with her internship supervisor, she is advocating for the school district to pay their social work interns using grant money. “Social work is such important work,” she said, “and it is that community-building that we especially need right now. How can we do that if we can’t survive ourselves?”
Eventually, she said, she would like to work toward having interns paid state-wide.
As she eyes graduation in December, Trevino said that an important part of her story has been the slow pace of her educational journey. “I am not a traditional student—I am 36—and I started out at a community college,” she explained. “I think that is a pathway that a lot of younger students overlook: going a slower route.”
Trevino continued, “I think that makes it a little easier as a social work student, specifically. I have got a lot of life under my belt. I have got those lived experiences that we work with our clients so much to explore.”
She added, “I really appreciate those experiences now working with my clients. Having that knowledge to fall back onto has helped.”