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Community Organizing
Placed in foster care as an adolescent, Corey O’Neill encountered many of the problems that plague the system: poverty, neglect, abuse, young parenthood.
But his experience—which included incarceration at the age of 17—motivated him to change the course of his trajectory. He earned his high school diploma while in prison and, after being released, found a job and pursued a college education.
It was while he was attending undergrad classes that Corey discovered his talent for public speaking—giving him a platform from which to tell his story and the stories of others like him. The School of Social Work took notice, and now Corey is pursuing his MSW as a Child Welfare Scholarship recipient.
“The focus of this scholarship on abuse and neglect adds a human element that you’re not likely to find in other degrees or programs. You’re saving children’s lives...what’s more rewarding than that?”