Improving Access to Higher Education

When she entered the BSW program at Azusa Pacific University, Maya Barrientos already had her higher education and professional career fully mapped out: She planned to earn an MSW, obtain licensure and become a counselor. But her plans changed after working in the university’s TRIO program — a federally funded initiative to support academic success among low-income first-generation students, those with disabilities, and students who are underrepresented in graduate education.

She recalls, “While I loved the one-to-one peer mentoring, I also loved the programming and leading workshops.” She began contemplating pursuing a macro focus, and ultimately a macro class she took during her junior year changed her trajectory.

With its flexible specialization pathways and strong macro focus, the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) Denver Campus MSW Program was a perfect next step. Now an advanced standing student at GSSW, Barrientos says she particularly likes the ability to develop some clinical skills while also pursuing a specialization in Organizational Leadership and Policy Practice. She notes, “the flexibility of classes was not offered anywhere else.”

Her GSSW program has even allowed her to take a course at DU’s Morgridge College of Education, which will help prepare her for a career supporting other students’ dreams of higher education.

Barrientos says, “With an MSW, you’re taught how to work in different systems and different areas. That’s something that’s so unique about social work. For me, ultimately, getting my master’s was about choosing that flexibility.”

After graduation later this year, Barrientos plans to return to her longtime home in Southern California, where she wants to work with students from marginalized communities, such as DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) students and those with disabilities. She says, “I want to support high school and college students to get into college, and their well-being … Anywhere I go where I can work with students would fill that passion of mine.”