SALEM — Three Lynn students attending Salem State University received $20,000 scholarships after the Accelerate the Future Foundation gifted the school $400,000, which was split between 20 students.
The scholarship was granted to students earning a master’s of social work degree. It will also help the private family foundation achieve their goal of “increasing the racial and ethnic diversity of practitioners in the field,” according to the statement.
Francisca Daniels, one of three MSW student scholarship recipients from Lynn, said it feels “amazing” and she feels “honored” to have received such a scholarship.
“This scholarship helps me to build generational wealth for me and my family,” she said. “It is almost unheard in the social work industry to get such a scholarship, especially for an immigrant like me; I am so grateful.”
Daniels graduated from Salem State in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in social work and currently works as an intern at Aspire Early Intervention in Lynn. She said her plan after she finishes her masters in 2023 is to become a school social worker to work with families who “aren’t English speaking” to help them “navigate the education system.”
“I would like to thank Salem State for giving me the tools I needed to start my career,” she said.
The first step in qualifying for the scholarship is to apply for the graduate admissions application. Factors that are taken into consideration are the individual’s GPA, socio-economic status, financial aid, and both involvement in campus organizations and under-represented groups.
As a result of the pandemic, the need for social workers is much higher, with the US Bureau of Labor Statistics predicting a 12 percent increase in the amount of social workers between 2020 and 2030 given the number of people seeking support services. However, there has been a decline in social workers going into the field — a problem many are looking to combat, including Johnathon Lukens, Salem State’s MSW program coordinator.
Lukens said this scholarship provides an opportunity for students to complete the program in a much better financial situation than in years prior, as people who would’ve had to complete it in four years are now able to do it in two.
“This is a game changer for so many students,” he said. “It is nice to see a donor who recognized that we have a shortage in behavioral health and say ‘this is where we need to invest that money.’”
The Salem State School of Social Work is the first public social work program in Mass., whose mission is to “provide students with the knowledge, values, and skills required for excellence as social work practitioners.” Students learn the necessary skills to become clinical practitioners through both hands-on experience, and experience in the classroom.
Dany Acosta, another scholarship recipient and creator of the “empower” scholarship program, said that he hopes this scholarship will help him open doors that may otherwise be restricted, as the wait list to receive mental health help has become “lengthy.”
“I want to provide opportunities to people who were in the situation I was in — to achieve what may otherwise have taken years,” he said. “I just hope that my career will begin to shed light on not just so many beautiful people, but also to provide quality service to those who need it.”
Rachel Galatis can be reached at rachel@itemlive.com.
