During her undergraduate education, Juliana Caputo, GSS ’24, was set on becoming a teacher. She wanted to help kids discover who they are and what they love about the world, and she figured heading up the classroom was the best way to do that.
However, Caputo discovered a harsh reality: through no fault of their own, teachers have limited capacity and resources. Their priorities are academic, which can mean increasing test scores and other quantitative markers as signs of success. When your supervisor says exam results need to improve, as a teacher, your job is to help students score higher.
“I wanted to be more of an emotional support,” Caputo said.
So, Caputo switched her major to Psychology. But after graduating, she still didn’t have a clear path forward. Luckily, she received insight from her mother about a career choice that could make the societal change Caupto sought.
“I decided I would go into social work, just like my mom,” she said.
Caputo’s social worker mother spoke of the boundless opportunities Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) graduates enjoy due to the degree’s diverse curriculum. Social workers are in hospitals, government, and schools—empowering marginalized individuals and influencing social policy.
“I realized how much diversity is in the social work field and how I could do so much with the degree,” Caputo said. “It’s just where my heart is.”
Now, Caputo is wrapping up her time as a full-time M.S.W. student at Fordham’s Westchester campus, ready to enter the field with a role she loves. After graduation this May, she will work as a social worker for Student Assistance Services (SAS), a nonprofit organization that provides substance abuse prevention and early intervention services, programming, and training in schools, residential facilities, and communities primarily in Westchester County, New York.
A Social Work Mindset
Her mother’s influence started even earlier than undergrad—Caputo was interested in advocacy work from a young age. In sixth grade, Caputo volunteered at organizations like Alliance for Safe Kids and the Yorktown Lions’ Club, looking to make a difference in young people’s lives. She stuck with it and is now a board member at both organizations.
“I just really love working with people and helping people,” she said. “My passion is definitely with adolescents and young kids.”
This aligns well with her new position at SAS. In her role as a social worker, Caputo will be assigned to the Dobbs Ferry school system—where she will collaborate with the school’s in-house guidance counseling department to provide substance abuse counseling to students from sixth through twelfth grade.
“A lot of people turn to substances when they have mental health issues that they don’t know how to cope with,” Caputo said. “So part of the job is doing counseling with kids whose parents struggle with substance use, or maybe they struggle with it themselves.”
In addition, Caputo’s position also requires an outreach aspect, assisting with schoolwide programming alongside her one-on-one counseling duties. Caputo said this combination of micro and macro work drew her to the job, and Fordham’s unique curriculum prepared her for the unique demands.
“Fordham always did a really good job of breaking down every issue, looking at the micro, mezzo, and macro of it,” Caputo said. “Before coming to Fordham, I really wanted to work with nonprofits, but I also wanted to work in a therapeutic way. And I didn’t necessarily know what that meant until starting my education. It made it easier for me to articulate that to others, and really find a place that I can do all of it.”
Caputo said she is interested in the concept of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) within the school system, defined by the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) as the “process through which children and adults acquire and effectively apply the knowledge, attitudes, and skills necessary to understand and manage emotions, set and achieve positive goals, feel and show empathy for others, establish and maintain positive relationships, and make responsible decisions.”
“I think so many kids who don’t know how to express and describe their emotions turn into adults who don’t know how to cope with their emotions,” she said. “If they were really able to articulate what they were feeling, it would completely change the game for them.”
She believes so strongly in SEL’s importance that she advocated for a $1,200 donation from the Yorktown Lions Club to fund SEL within a local school system. Caputo said her goal as a board member is to start a fund in the Lions Club’s annual budget to support SEL in the community.
“Whether it be a preschool, community center, or high school, somebody each year will get [a donation]that can go directly toward building more social emotional learning within our community,” she said. “I just think it’s so important.”
A Close Cohort
Caputo may have chosen to attend Fordham’s Westchester campus out of convenience, but it ended up being a decision ending with connection.
Known for its small class sizes and community feel, Fordham Westchester is a mecca for relationship building. Looking back on her two years at Fordham, Caputo said the bond with her classmates is something she will remember most about her educational experience.
“Yes, the education was great, and the professors were great, and like I feel like I learned so much—but what I feel like I’m always going to look back fondly on the most is all the amazing people I met along the way,” she said. “I’ve never met a group of people with such great values. Every day coming into class, I was so happy to see my friends.”
Moreover, along with the lifelong connections she’s made in Fordham’s M.S.W. program, Caputo always has another trusted social worker in her corner—her mother.
“She told me to try as many things as you can, and keep yourself open to many possibilities,” Caputo said. “She’s been really great in helping me find my passions and stick with them.”
