MSUM students are doing amazing things. Our students embrace diversity, challenges, opportunities, unique experiences and continue to produce incredible results. Our students participate in student organizations, attend and present at regional and national conferences, compete at regional and national competitions, collaborate on faculty-mentored projects, gain hands-on experience through internships, help coordinate community service projects, and more. Many have won prestigious scholarships for academic excellence and many have won awards for their stellar work inside and outside of the classroom. See what the students from the School of Social Work are doing.
Jessy Belden, Social Work
“The professors are really great, they’re really personable, and they know everyone in the program. They’re helpful and they teach really well.”“The program has a really good reputation in the area, and the pass rate for the licensing exam is much higher than the national average. They’ve had years where everyone has passed it, which is awesome.”
Ryan Oberg, Social Work
“A good thing about Social Work is they have a lot of contacts within the community. The MSUM faculty have deep connections with different agencies in town. Any part of the social work profession – child welfare, addiction, at-risk youth – they have connections with different agencies in town, which is one of the best things about the program.”“I feel really prepared. They’re big on the social work values, which kind of informs our service. They really pump that into you. At first, you think this is just a class and it’s the usual thing, but then eventually you start to think from their perspective and it really sets you up for helping people, which is the whole point of social work.”
Jeremy Traen, Social Work
"I want to be an addiction counselor, and I was told by addiction counselors and social workers who are in the field that what I should do is become a social worker first, and then the transition would be easier. Everybody told me to go to MSUM. It was like there was no other choice. It’s where you've got to go.""We have a senior project that combines everything we learned in class, as well as our internship. It was cool to be able to share about your internship and the things you’re learning, and also hear about what other people are experiencing in their internship."
Five Social Work students participated in a project at Bennett Park Coop in Moorhead last semester. Nicole Keegan completed her internship at Bennett Park Coop under the supervision of Joan Backman, site manager and Joe Bennett. Through her internship she became familiar with the non-profit coop and its mission of all residents becoming owners of the coop and owning their remanufactured homes.
Mauri Gonsorowski, Kayla Kubischta, Brittney Odberg and Ryan McGillivray, completed a service learning project with Bennett Park Coop. They helped eligible residents purchase their homes as their 18-month leases expired. These five students met with the residents to see if they could meet the required 610 credit rating or higher; and if they did not meet the required credit rating, the students assisted the residents in getting their finances in order and setting up communication with the Village to assist the residents with their finances with the goal of helping the residents to be able to purchase their own homes.
Jessy Belden, Social Work Major
