News Archive
Alumni
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As a child, Mariko Yamada, MSW '74, remembers standing up for underrepresented students who would get picked on at her public elementary school. Now, 50 years later, she is still fighting for vulnerable populations as the newly elected assemblywoman representing California's 8th Assembly District.
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When her daughter was diagnosed with cancer eight years ago, Paula Berke wasn't sure what to do or where to turn for support. She was living in California, and her daughter was in Tennessee. So Berke packed her bags and went to Nashville, not knowing what she would find once she got there.
Little did she know that her daughter would find the help they both needed and the inspiration for Berke's own way to help those touched by cancer.
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Eric Hernandez MSW '03 came to Los Angeles at age 11 from war-torn El Salvador, where he had been caring for his younger brother. The siblings joined their parents in a small apartment in the Pico Union area.
"Moving here from El Salvador was frustrating, depressing and painful," he recalls. "We had to adjust to a new place, new language, new people. We struggled, but my parents emphasized the importance of education."
