“Who would have thought my story would be a success story,” Kara Green, recent 太阳城娱乐官网大学科尔尼社会工作理学士学位 graduate, said. 
 
Her story began more than 1,000 miles away in Long Beach California where she was removed from her mother’s care and placed into the foster care system. 她很快发现自己是俄勒冈州一个无家可归的年轻人，后来成为太阳城娱乐官网的单身母亲。 
 
这些挑战让格林发现了她对社会工作的热情和事业，并回馈了许多帮助她将故事变成成功的系统和组织。 
 
After being placed into the foster care system, Green found herself in her second foster home placement with her mother’s former boyfriend.  
 
“He wasn’t super hard on me. It was like he understood me,” she said about her foster dad. 
 
Although Green felt understood, she still felt the “internal struggles and raw emotions” of her difficult upbringing. 
 
“I definitely didn’t have my head on straight and I felt like running away was the answer to my struggles,” she said. “When I look back, I totally wouldn’t have done it that way, but it's made me learn a lot of other skills, like survival.” 
 
格林上了一辆公共汽车，向北行驶了700多英里到达俄勒冈州。 
 
一个好心人找到了格林，带她去了当地一个为无家可归的年轻人提供的过渡性住房项目，这是格林以前从未听说过的。 Due to her being from California’s jurisdiction, she was sent back to her foster dad.  

格林在离家较近的地方找到了一个过渡性住房项目，她的养父鼓励她尝试一下。 在两年的工作中，她遇到了许多与她背景相似的年轻人，并与工作人员建立了密切的关系。  
 
“I told one of the workers at the time, ‘I want to be just like you. I want to do this for a living,’ she said. “Then she told me the route she took, and I knew I wanted to pursue social work. I just felt like everything in the world was hinting at this is what you are destined to do.” 
 
Beyond finding her passion, she also met her child’s father there, who eventually encouraged her to move to Nebraska. 
 
“At first, I said no,” said Green. “Then I thought it might be good to move out of California and start fresh with a new life and people that don't know me.” 
 
太阳城娱乐官网给格林带来了欢乐，她有了一个名叫卡罗琳的女儿，现在已经七岁了，这也加强了格林和养父之间的关系，但也带来了心碎。 
 
“Another learning curve was me and my daughter's dad splitting,” she said. “I had to learn a whole new sort of skills to be a single mom.” 
 
格林不仅是一位单身母亲，而且还是一名持证护理助理，并在格兰德岛的中央社区学院学习在线课程。  
 
2019年，她获得了人类服务专业的副学士学位。 After a nearly two-year break, she enrolled in 太阳城娱乐官网’s online Social Work program.  

她的大部分大学生涯完全是在网上完成的，这让格林有了工作和抚养女儿所需的灵活性。 
 
“I could still be there for my daughter and not have to sacrifice time with her, her events, or miss any of her milestones. I had a great experience being an online student,” she said. 
 
Beyond the flexibility, she was pleasantly surprised to find the program offered 多样化的课程设置 which allowed Green to focus on youth and adolescents. 
 
Her focus did not change when she began the program’s internship with the Department of Health and Human Services Child Protective Services unit.  
 
实习快结束时，格林被鼓励申请CPS办公室的一个空缺职位，她在毕业前几天接受了这个职位。 
 
With a new career and degree, you could say Green’s story is a success, but she’s not even close to done writing her story. 
 
“I feel like when you're an adult and life is taking you all these routes, people usually give school a break,” she said. “I commend myself that I never stopped going.” 
 
In the fall of 2024, Green hopes to attend the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s online master’s social work program. 
 
“I want to keep learning and I want to keep being better,” she said.