Graduating Student Spotlight: Yazmin Brown
Yazmin Brown leans on her difficult upbringing as her motivation to be a great social worker. Brown, who grew up in the foster care system in Kansas City, Kansas, has ambitions for a career helping children who seek to be understood and heard.
In May, Brown will graduate with her Master of Social Work degree from the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare. It’s an achievement she never imagined for herself, but now it is here.
“What I want to do for the rest of my life is help people,” Brown said.
Get to know more about Brown as she shares her thoughts ahead of graduation.
Why social work?
Brown: “What made me really choose social work is that I actually grew up in the foster care system myself, and so I feel like I was impacted at a very young age by a lot of social workers, and at the time, I didn't understand what that meant. Before I pursued my social work degree, I used to work for a nonprofit that helped survivors of domestic violence. I found joy in that, so that truly is what caused me to pursue my master's in social work.”
How did your upbringing shape your values?
Brown: “When I was young, I didn't have a lot of people advocating for me. I felt like my voice was never really heard. Navigating the court systems, even as a teenager, was really rough, just because I felt like people would ask me what I wanted, if I wanted to go, if I wanted to be adopted, all these different things. But never did someone actually sit down with me and go through those things and hear me. I think that really molded me into wanting to advocate for children, specifically advocate for people who do not have a voice at the table.”
How did you choose KU’s program?
Brown: “A little bit about me. I was undocumented when I was younger. I became a citizen when I was about 22 years old, and so college was never really at the forefront of my mind. I remember growing up and watching KU games on TV and thinking about college as a young teenager, and I knew that was never going to be a thing for me. But I always said if I ever decided to go to college, KU would be the school I would go to. Whenever I got my citizenship when I turned 22, and I was like, ‘You know what? This is what I want to do. I want to go into social work.’”
What opportunities were opened to you because of the School of Social Welfare?
Brown: “I think because of KU and because of the many clinical practicum options, I ended up at the Child Protection Center here in Kansas City, Missouri. And in the last nine months that I've been doing my clinical practicum here, doing Spanish therapy with Spanish-speaking community clients, so I don't think I would have ever had that opportunity.”
Where is your head at as you approach graduation and this achievement?
Brown: “I’m actually very excited. I've realized through my practicum that I do want to be a therapist. Helping kids in the foster care system is super important to me. Right now, as I do my practicum at the Child Protection Center, I'm hoping that I will continue to work here as a career. I'm hoping that I get to land here, and I get to continue to help people with my skills and help them heal from things that I've been through, because I can relate to them all the time.”