“Social workers are so valuable. Everybody needs somebody on the front lines, advocating for [them],” said Master of Social Work student Jennifer McCallson.

McCallson and three other MSW students found their own advocates this year through the Swim With Mike fundraiser and USC’s Physically Challenged Athletes Scholarship Fund, which help physically challenged athletes obtain a quality education. Since its founding in 1981, Swim With Mike has raised more than $18 million for scholarships.

We talked to these four USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work students about their lives before and after receiving the scholarship. And while all four suffer from spinal cord injuries, they are also united in another way — through their dedication to social justice.

Here are their inspiring stories of how they overcame their personal adversities to accomplish their dreams.

Cory Sullivan

Two years ago, Cory Sullivan was involved in a motorcycle accident when his throttle stuck open while negotiating an on ramp, knocking out his T6, T7 and T8 vertebrae, as well as breaking numerous other bones and puncturing both lungs.

It was his experience working with a social worker during rehabilitation that signaled to him a need to use his experience for good.

“I actually wasn’t even going to apply to the school of social work initially — I was going to do professional work for psychology,” Sullivan said. “Then my whole experience with the accident made me shift my plan. I had a social worker at that time [in the hospital], and I didn’t feel like there was an empathetic connection. I feel as someone who has been in that industry and has gone through that trauma, [I could] relate to that experience a lot differently.”

To get Sullivan to this point, his uncle played an instrumental role, encouraging him to apply for the Swim With Mike Scholarship that would allow him to attend the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work.

“[Getting the scholarship] was like getting a burden lifted off of my shoulders,” Sullivan said. “It makes me feel so little to see the things I’ve done compared to people in the same cohort, and it makes you want to thrive and do more for the whole spinal cord community. They’re just such giving people. Being connected at USC ... it’s almost like a brotherhood. It’s a blessing to say the least.”

Kristina Ripatti

In 2006, a single bullet took more than just several centimeters of bone and tissue from (ret.) LAPD police officer Kristina Ripatti.

“When I was shot, it stripped me of my identity, my everything. The hardest thing is dealing with a lot of personal stuff; it’s not the injury at all,” Ripatti said. “I wasn’t just a police officer — I was into surfing and snowboarding. I’ve never been a really school person, but the injury forced me to find the next thing.”

The next thing for Ripatti has been a career in social work, combining her past experiences as a gang officer in South Los Angeles with her newfound love of education.

“As a cop, I’ve seen how the human experience translates across all lines. We all go through the same feelings of pain and grief. We all share the same emotional experiences,” she said. “Some see it as a one-way street, but social workers need to understand what police officers are going through on a daily basis. There are a lot of things that you go through as a police officer that are very intense that are never addressed.”

After originally enrolling at USC in 2007, Ripatti is now on her second stint at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, studying to earn her MSW and eventually her LCSW to help the spinal cord community.

Along with fixing problems of emotional trauma, Ripatti’s dream is to create a center for patients where they can be surrounded by people in similar situations.

“These people often times are young people who are quadriplegic and don’t have any resources and have a lot of trauma,” she said. “A lot of times they have to go to a nursing home. My goal is to open up a therapeutic living facility. I would love to help people in more of a grand scheme, in a community and with a connection to people as a healing aspect.”

And now more than 10 years removed from being shot in the line of duty, Ripatti is using her education as a means to enforce a different type of justice: social justice.

“I’m getting into this because of the therapeutic alliance and how it can change people’s lives,” she said. “It was during my recovery that I learned that connection with people is what effected change in my life and how I wanted to effect the same kind of change in other people’s lives.”

Jennifer McCallson

With a wedding and career just a few months ahead of her, Jennifer McCallson doesn’t have time to let her disability set her back.

After a collegiate cheerleading accident caused her to become a quadriplegic, it took years for McCallson to understand that her life needed to move forward.

“I remember one day ... I was bawling my eyes out thinking, ‘I’m paralyzed. I can’t even get out of my wheelchair,’ ” she said. “I thought to myself how there’s this great big world out there, and I wanted to be a part of it. I look back at that day as a turning point.”

In 2011, McCallson earned her bachelor’s degree in sports management from the California University of Pennsylvania and expected to start at the USC Rossier School of Education soon after to accomplish one of her dreams of being a teacher.

But the Carlsbad, California, native soon realized that her journey would take her down a different road.

“As a quadriplegic, I work with a lot of routines and asking people to help me get things done at my house. And I thought stepping into a classroom just wasn’t for me,” McCallson said. “I deferred for two years, and with the help of my friend, started a two-week residential program helping those with spinal cord injuries. Many don’t have ability to live on their own, so we came up with a program to teach them those valuable life skills.”

In fact, McCallson brought to Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work, a 10-page proposal to bring care to those with spinal cord injuries.

“I thought of an idea for a summer camp like the program I started with my friend to teach independent living skills to kids with spinal cord injuries so that they can go to college, get a job and becoming functioning members of society,” she said. “I was so proud to share this idea with Dean Flynn.”

Excited for a future in social work, McCallson will bring the same fervor and enthusiasm to her next job that she once had for cheerleading.

“I want change on a big level,” she said. “I don’t want to just be a part of it. I want to get the crowd up and riled.”

Jessica Brito

At the age of 16, Jessica Brito experienced the miracle of life, giving birth to a son.

Then in 2010, Brito almost had it all taken away.

Exhausted from her busy life attending school and taking care of her son, Brito fell asleep while driving and crashed her car, resulting in a level C-7 incomplete spinal cord injury.

“I worked for a tutoring company, went to school full-time and had my son to take care of. It was during finals week, and I went out with my friends and my body was exhausted,” Brito said. “My car flipped over four times down the emergency lane.”

Of her experience being paralyzed, Brito explains that her No. 1 concern was taking care of her family and young son.

“I was paralyzed from the neck down, and it was a hard adjustment because I come from a low-income family. It was hard for me to not be working and supporting the family financially,” she said. “I knew I couldn’t get most jobs with my disability, so I had to go back to school. I worked so hard on being as independent as possible.” 

After attending a local paralysis recovery center, Brito established enough upper body function to live an independent life.

Her newfound independence allowed her to eventually graduate from California State University, Fullerton, with a degree in psychology and work at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center.

Brito credits much of her success to the strong female role models in her life, namely her mother and grandmother, who both worked two jobs as single mothers.

“From an early age, I had to grow up really quickly. I am so thankful to have grown up around strong women,” Brito said. “My grandmother cared for everyone she could and never stopped working to show people that she cared about them. My mother and grandmother both worked manual labor jobs to make ends meet, and I took after them — that no matter what I wanted to do, I could.”