Student Spotlight: Simranpreet Kandola
At heart, Simranpreet Kandola is a listener. Her interest in social work is grounded in her eagerness to hear other people’s stories.
Kandola, a student in the advanced standing Master of Social Work program at the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare, will tell you she’s timid.
She’s being modest – the soft-spoken Kandola stood in front of several hundred people in the Lied Center auditorium and delivered a commencement speech in May.
“I was really surprised to have been chosen for that. Honored, honestly,” Kandola said. “I think it's encouraged me just to do things didn't think I could do.”
Kandola was also selected as a recipient for the Do Good for Erin Langhofer Scholarship, named after a two-time graduate of the University of Kansas School of Social Welfare who had a bright future ahead of her when she was killed by a random act of gun violence. This was the first significant scholarship for which Kandola received an acceptance letter.
Langhofer’s family established the fund at the School of Social Welfare to honor her memory and continue the good she was doing in the world. Kandola handled that opportunity with grace and humility, much like she has with her social work education.
“I think it stands for something really amazing, and someone who did amazing things in the time that she was able to,” said Kandola, whose practicum is with the Kansas VA Medical Center. “I was able to connect to that, and I want to continue something like that, and be a student who becomes a practitioner and actually impacts the world around her.”
Kandola’s background is important to her. Her family migrated from India and lives in Lee’s Summit, where she grew up. She credits her parents and her surroundings for teaching her about perspective.
That’s core to her “why” as a social worker.
“It’s not just about helping people, but I also wanted to promote their success and be someone to listen to their stories,” Kandola said. “I think that’s what people really need. A place to feel comfortable speaking about the parts of their lives that they don’t usually get to communicate about.”
Kandola’s time in the Bachelor of Social Work program at the KU Edwards Campus with her cohort, and her first months in the advanced standing MSW program, have already impacted her. She wanted that growth to come through in her commencement speech.
She spent hours writing it. And Kandola is a writing tutor – yes, grammatical correctness and organization were key to her in the writing process.
But that part was for her. For her cohort and her family, she wanted to share her growth and recognize the moment.
“This is a tough field that we have deliberately chosen to explore,” Kandola said in her speech. “So we cannot forget that we are part of the humanity within it.”