Social Work Students Present Research Projects in New Orleans

Two professors and five students represented Seton Hill’s social work program at the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors’ annual national conference in New Orleans in February.

Professor of Social Work David Droppa and Assistant Professor of Social Work Sarah Slates both presented, alongside students Payton Beattie, Skyler Beatty, Renell Palm, Benjamin Sanner and Allyson Thomas.

Skyler was the lead on a project in a third-year social work Social Policy course taught by Droppa which selected Arnold, Pa., as a community at risk and worked in tandem with local leadership to design and carry out a semester-long project to increase engagement of community members and, as the residents said, “give the kids something to do.” The students held a community fair in Roosevelt Park last April that was attended by more than 100 parents and their children, with games, free food, and conversations with parents and kids about what they would like to do over the summer. This activity led to the creation of a proposal shared with leaders in Arnold that would help them kickstart a summer youth program.

The other four students presented their own empirical research from their senior research projects connected to their respective internship sites with locations including Westmoreland Community Action’s Head Start Program, the Latino Community Center in Pittsburgh, the Westmoreland County Children's Bureau, and Adelphoi.