A Message from the NYS Chapter

Wow, you did it! The members of NASW-NYS see you, we celebrate you, and we welcome you to the profession. You and your hard work deserve to be recognized. Take time to celebrate this accomplishment with your family, friends, and peers.

All NYS social graduates are welcome to join this online yearbook, and you can submit your information here.

Aliana Burgos, MSW
Nazareth College
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.” -Winston Churchill

Emily Wood, MSW
University at Buffalo
“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” -Harriet Tubman

Adia Evans
University at Buffalo
“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.” – Maya Angelou

Bridget Schoendorf
Siena College
“I was made to rise above it.”

Jasmin Sowell-Spears, MSW
Fordham University
“The Peoples Resource”.

Olivia Case, MSW
University at Buffalo

Joanna McIntyre, MSW
University at Albany

Aungalique Wallace, MSW
University at Buffalo
“Live each day to the fullest! Laugh, make silly jokes, take trips, find a hobby, sleep in and don’t ever stop LEARNING. I owe this degree to my daughter Victoria, who has helped me grow and learn every day while being her mom. Congratulations to my fellow MSW 2021 graduates!”

Izabella Kimber, BSW
Nazareth College
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Sheryl Hugh
NYU Silver School of Social Work
“Your story is what you have. What you will always have. It is something to own.” -Michelle Obama, Becoming

Erin Hines
Ramapo College of New Jersey
“Loose yourself in the service of others” – Ghani

Carla Recalde
Fordham University
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Evelyn Morales
Fordham University
“Remember knowledge is not scarce, it takes strength to love and be vulnerable and social work will always be political.”

Leah Ingraham, MSW
University at Buffalo

Veteran & Military Family Care
“Armed with will and determination, and grace too.” -TTH

Kayla McNeil, MSW
Columbia School of Social Work
Clinical: Health, Mental Health, & Disabilities
“And yet, we preserved!”

Emma Valvo, MSW
University at Buffalo
“There’s something so special about a woman who dominates in a man’s world. It takes a certain grace, strength, intelligence, fearlessness, and the nerve to never take no for an answer.” – Rihanna

Carmann Benedetto, MSW
University at Buffalo
“We rise by lifting others.”

Nathalie Campos, MSW
Adelphi University
Children & Families
“I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was that somebody.” – Lily Tomlin

LaQuilla White, MSW
Nazareth College
“I am so happy I went back to obtain my Master’s. Now I feel like the sky is the limit with the amount of work I can contribute to within the community.”

Kailey Boor, MSW
Nazareth College
“Great things come from hard work and perseverance. No excuses.” – Kobe Bryant

Ashley Volmy, MSW
Daemen College
“Be the Change, WE NEED to see in the world”
“Always lead by example and remember to Empower, be empathetic and educate when you can.”
“She believed she could and so she did.” #Socialworkerismysuperpower

Rebecca Giangregorio, MSW
University at Buffalo Graduate School of Social Work
“Persist.”

Sara Shanley, MSW
Daemen College
“Be a voice for someone who can’t.”

Amelia DeRusha
Nazareth College
“There are only two guarantees in life; change and death, everything else is relative. So, if this is the worst of my problems for the day then I’m doing okay. It’s all a matter of perspective.”

Mikaila Mault, MSW
Daemen College
“Day by day, step by step, I will change the world!”

Manuel Torres, BSW
Marist College
“Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak, it’s also what it takes to sit down and listen.” – Sir Winston Churchill

Gadria Conlan, BSW
Skidmore College
“Nothing will work unless you do.” -Maya Angelou

Cameron McLeod
University at Buffalo
“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”

Andria Watson, MSW
University at Buffalo
“It’s never too late to follow your dreams!.”

Giana Di Gregorio
Siena College
“Be the change.”

Caitlin Scavone
Nazareth College
“Healing isn’t linear.”

Kiriaki Gatanas, MSW
Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare
“We are not made for ourselves alone. We are made for the good of all our fellow creatures.” – Saint Gregory the Theologian

Vernita Thomspon
University at Buffalo
Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.

Alanna Paris, MSW
University at Buffalo
“What should young people do with their lives today? Many things, obviously. But the most daring thing is to create stable communities in which the terrible disease of loneliness can be cured.” – Kurt Vonnegut

Arlene Tariq, MSW
University at Buffalo
“Believe in yourself and all that you are. Know that there is something inside you that is greater than any obstacle.” 

Kyla Shine, MSW
University at Buffalo
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou

Piedad Buceta, BSW
Marist College
“Don’t wait… DO IT!!!”

Kayden Sullivan
Stony Brook University
“The two most important days in your life are the day you are born and the day you find out why.” -Mark Twain

Evelyn Lopez Rodriguez, BSW
Stony Brook University
“To be a star, you must shine your own light, follow your own path, and don’t worry about the darkness, for that is when the stars shine the brightest.”

Kwamiah Little, MSW
University at Albany

Olivia Knox, BSW
Marist College
“When you know you are of worth – not asking it but knowing it – you walk into a room with a particular power.” – Maya Angelou

Hannah Mickle
Nazareth College
“Helping one person might not change the whole world, but it could change the world for one person.”

Jenna Utter
Nazareth College
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

Kathryn Harrison, BSW
Siena College
“Grow through what you go through.”

Jennifer Hendrickson-Rivers, MSW, MBA
Adelphi University
Clinical: Health, Mental Health & Disabilities
“Education, like life, is a journey, not a destination; it is a habit of mind, a philosophy of life, a way of being.” -Professor Carmel Mallia

Jenna LoSapio
Daemen College

Alecia Cultrara, MSW
Daemen College
“All our dreams can come true… if we have the courage to pursue them. We all worked so hard, especially during a global pandemic, and we should be proud of ourselves!”

Stacey-Ann Gordon, BSW
Binghamton College
“Nevertheless, she persisted.”

Courtney Gabamonte
University at Buffalo

Erin Kenney, MSW
Nazareth College

Yanice Ortiz
Binghamton University

“Be fearless in the pursuit of what sets your soul on fire.”

Emily Campanella, BSW
Marist College

“I see your fear and it’s big. I also see your courage, and it’s bigger. We can do hard things.” – Glennon Doyle

Maritza Alva Grande, MSW
New York University

This is an accomplishment centuries in the making. This is for us, for my community.

Courtney Green, MSW
University at Buffalo
Veteran & Military Families
“Through it all, she mastered it.”

Stacey Schiff, MSW
NYU Silver School of Social Work
“Life is messy and each day offers a new opportunity to “struggle well” in the face of adversity. Self-compassion creates more space for introspection and self awareness. Hold on to hope and the belief that positive change is possible in the face of challenge. Speak about the difficult issues. Actively listen to others speak as they share their narratives. Commit to a lifetime of learning with the goal of expanding perspective.”

Elena Lamb, 
Siena College

Marlene Bennett, BSW
Adelphi University
“We’re not in it for the income. We’re in it for the outcome. Social Workers.”

Julia Fetter, MSW
Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare
Community, Policy, and Political Social Action
“I’m no longer accepting the things I cannot change, I’m changing the things I cannot accept.”

Gina Kiernan
Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare

Rabeya Hoq, BSW
Marist College
“Together, we can make the change.”

Melissa Smith
Molloy College
“She believed she could, so she did”

Meagan Reed
University at Buffalo
“I’m a social worker because your life is worth my time.”

Donna Heintz, MSW
SUNY Brockport
“It’s been a long journey but I’m so happy to have finished and I am proud MSW graduate.”

Kimberly Guerrero, MSW
Stony Brook University School of Social Welfare
“She believed she could so she mastered it!”

Stephanie Joseph, MSW
Fordham University
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Courtney Fallon, BSW
Marist College
“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot. Nothing is going to get better. It’s not.” – Dr. Seuss

Congratulations class of 2021! NASW-NYS recognizes and celebrates this big moment with all BSW and MSW graduates!