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| Meet some of our students |
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| Meet Susan |
Hometown: Sharon, PA
Academic Institution: Asbury University, Kentucky
Course: Social Work
Activities: Church, friends, music/vocal mostly, camp and working with children and youth
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Laptop Received: April 30, 2010
Race: Pittsburgh Marathon
Running for Laptops Team: HJ Heinz
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| Susan's Story |
I started seeing a counselor through Family Services of Western Pennsylvania when I was in 7th grade, after my brothers and I were removed from my mother's care. I was placed with a family for about 16th months and then moved back home with my father and brothers. We had family therapists that came to the house occasionally and I continued seeing a counselor throughout High School and a few of my brothers also recieved individual services. At first, my brothers and I were only able to visit my mother if the visits were supervised, but sometimes even those rights were taken away.
At the end of my junior year of high school I had to move out of my father's house because of some of the surrounding circumstances. I continued to stay in touch with my family, but at that point I became independent of my parents and entered a four year University as an Independent student with no financial support from my parents. I knew that I wanted to Major in Social Work and eventually help out children and youth that come from rough backgrounds like mine. My mother finally passed away on my 21st birthday during my junior year of college, and this was very difficult for my brothers and I to go through. With the support of my counselor from Family Services, my guardians, people at college and church, and my friends I was able to return to school and catch up on work that I had missed.
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| What are your plans after graduation? |
| I am happy to say that I have graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work in May and I came to Italy for the summer to work with The Salvation Army. When I return I will move to Boston, MA for an undetermined amount of time and will look for a job in that field until I can go back to school and get my Master's Degree.
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