When I was 18, my father told me he was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer. That summer after I graduated high school, my younger sibling and I took care of him during his 100-day post-chemo treatment process at Stanford Hospital. After completing his recovery treatment and moving back to an apartment in Sacramento, he died in the summer of 2016 of pneumonia and other complications related to his lowered immune system. My mother and stepdad had just moved to Oregon, so my sibling and I moved into my dad’s one-bedroom apartment, went to school at Los Rios Community College, and worked.
About a year later, my mother filed for bankruptcy, so my sibling and I had to support ourselves. We both obtained scholarships due to our life conditions once we transferred to UC Davis, but maintaining school and work was always a challenge while navigating grief and financial instability in our family.
My early experience as my father’s caregiver made me aware of the fragile and quick nature of life and aging. Following his death, I became involved in activist circles in Sacramento, which taught and inspired me to remain engaged in my community. After college, I was hired to produce media for a company supporting home cooks making newly legal businesses, and saw how beneficial alternative labor structures can be for aging populations. I then documented the 2020 protests in California, Portland, and Washington, D.C. for the Sacramento Bee, furthering my connection to social justice movements. I also worked as a homeless shelter case manager, where I served adult clients of all ages, but many in their 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s; this showed me how much support our elders need in navigating modern conditions of oppression.
I was inspired to pursue a career related to gerontology because I see how foundational elements of society (like our labor system, benefits systems, housing, healthcare, nutrition, and transportation) are stacked against aging populations. The societal treatment toward many of our elders as disposable once they have seemingly been exhausted of labor potential is an injustice that impacts everyone, and connects to disability justice. I currently work in mental health as a supported employment specialist (while interning in adult outpatient mental health), and many of my clients are aging and facing difficulties in finding suitable work based on their changing abilities.
The Portland State University Master of Social Work online program enabled me to attend PSU from where I live in rural southern Oregon, and often get my work done asynchronously, which supported me in maintaining my full-time job. So many of my courses have provided deeper evidence-based insight into social factors I am concerned with in my life and career. Loss and Grief Across the Lifespan, Social Work in Native American Communities, Queer Social Work, Skills for Helping Groups, Advocacy and Empowerment, Social Justice in Social Work, Community Mental Health Psychiatry/Social Work OHSU Seminar, and my Advanced Clinical Social Work classes have been some highlights (that’s a lot of highlights lol).
The Retirement Association of Portland State (RAPS) Robert Vogelsang scholarship supported me in my final year of the MSW program. Similar to my Bachelor’s experience, I have obtained multiple scholarships while at PSU that offset tuition costs, so RAPS supported this offset and some of my other living costs. This was especially helpful in my final year of MSW as I moved to 30 hours per week (instead of 40) at my job to accommodate for my practicum hours.
I plan to continue working in community mental health, and was recently offered a Mobile Crisis Therapist role at my workplace, Adapt Integrated Health Care. I do some nutrition education work with Food as Medicine Oregon, and hope to offer more through their programs. I produce independent media and journalism through Ear to the Beat, so I look forward to having more time for in-depth projects. I organize with some friends for Umpqua Basin Food Not Bombs, so I would like to continue those efforts in community-based resource sharing. I am also an avid cyclist and musician, so I will enjoy having more time to spend on these passions once I am no longer in classes. Lastly, I will enjoy having the time to get more sleep.
With increasingly uncertain funding pathways for students, privately funded grants are important to maintain and grow! I hope RAPS and other organizations + individuals see the value they are providing to our communities by increasing opportunities for people to access education. I know I appreciate the opportunity, and I am just one of many who need funding support like this. Until we make education free and a right for everyone in our society, let’s keep these scholarships going and growing.