Rachel Downing was born in Oklahoma in 1944. She also lived in Kansas throughout her youth. At the age of 13 she moved to Montebello, California, where she attended high school. She graduated, got married, and had her son. Later she worked for a telephone company for years. After attending a retirement party for a […]
Alumni Spotlight – Rita Naranjo
Rita Naranjo grew up in Southern California. She was placed in foster care at the age of 4 and moved around a lot throughout her youth. At the age of 17, she became very active in advocacy in order to raise attention to the plight of foster youth. In the beginning she became a member […]
Alumni Spotlight – Jenée Peevy
Jenée Peevy, MSW, is nothing but determined. She was born in Los Angeles but has lived in San Diego County since age 3. She has been on her own since the age 15, and had to drop out of high school to have her first child. Jenée never gave up her aspirations to continue with […]
Alumni Spotlight – Dr. Raul Valdez
Dr. Raul Valdez was born in Laredo, Texas, the sixth child of ten in a family of migrant workers who traveled through the Midwest for work until he was 8 years old. At that time, his family decided to settle in Milwaukee, Wisconsin because his mother wanted her children to pursue an education without having […]
Alumni Spotlight – Yuen Lam Shek
Yuen Lam Shek is originally from Hong Kong, where she obtained her Bachelor of Social Work. After working in the field in Hong Kong, she decided she wanted to study abroad and moved to San Diego to complete the 1 year MSW program at SDSU. She chose SDSU because she had heard about Motivational Interviewing, […]
