Alexis Salazar

University of St. Francis

Bachelor’s in Social Work

Graduating May 2019

I started off as an education major. I loved working with kids, but I wanted to do more than teach children. Social work is so broad, there is so much you can do with a social work degree. Social workers are everywhere; mental health settings, schools, case management, police departments, and hospitals.

Despite all the work we do, social workers are looked down upon. People don’t understand social work until they get involved with it. Social work looks at a person’s environment and helps them to capitalize on their strengths to change and navigate their environment to live better lives. The greatest challenge is separating yourself from work at the end of the day. It’s hard to come home and not worry about the parents or children on your case.

 CASA is so interesting to me. I love going to court, meeting the case workers, and seeing all the moving and working parts. I’ve learned how to manage and guide other advocates. This experience has given me a new perspective on child abuse as well. It’s not always black and white. I learned that even children who have been abused, still want and love their parents.

After graduation I’ll be pursuing my master’s in social work. Before CASA, I was only interested in specializing to work clinically, but now I’m open to the possibility of working in child welfare. I never would have though that I’d love my work at CASA so much.