Welcome Social Work Practicum Student Teresa!
by Liz Moore
Teresa Kinder is a senior at EWU, completing her social work practicum with a Community Organizing Internship at PJALS. “I was tired of seeing people around me thinking they couldn’t make a difference,” she says.
“I’m passionate about lots of social justice issues. Everything is so important, and for me it depends on what has momentum at the moment. I do love LGBT issues, anything around that is my passion.”
Teresa is a graduate of the Mead school district. Her first step to put her values into action was to attend a meeting with Washington CAN. She volunteered with them on paid sick days. “I had worked at Walmart and I saw what it was like to not have paid sick days. It was ridiculous. I saw people who were sick working, and I worked in meats, so sick people are touching your food all the time. I saw people who were taking care of their families, and if they missed a day of work, they wouldn’t be able to afford something for their kids, so no matter how sick they were, they were at work. It was a huge issue.”
“My favorite thing about being at PJALS,” says Teresa, “is hearing from so many people and learning about so many things I didn’t know were issues before. Anytime I see something where people are actually doing something and actually making a difference — I haven’t been around people before who are even trying. I’ve learned about things like race inequalities — I had always heard they were there but had never seen them, now I have learned and now I notice and see things that were always there. Another big issue I’ve learned about has been with people who were incarcerated, that had never occurred to me ever.”
Teresa says she’ll be different after this internship. “I feel like I’m not afraid to talk about issues anymore. I’ll have more skills and knowledge about how to run groups and organize anything in general.”