Yesica Swenson earned her Bachelor’s degree in Family Studies & Human Services from Kansas State Polytechnic in May, 2015. She currently works as a Service Coordination Specialist at OCCK Inc. in Salina. Dr. Mindy Markham had an opportunity to meet with Yesica to learn more about her current work and she also reflected on her time on the Salina campus.
Yesica described initially attending another university in Kansas before attending the K-State Salina campus in order to be near family. She then went to the Manhattan campus the following semester, but decided to return to the Salina campus because she missed the smaller campus and classes. Yesica found it to be easier to get questions answered and to interact with fellow students and faculty on the Salina campus.
When asked why she chose to major in Family Studies & Human Services, Yesica explained that she was interested in being a teacher and she was also interested in Social Work. She found that Family Studies & Human Services allowed her to continue to be engaged in educating others, while working with individuals and families.
Yesica finds her work to be incredibly fulfilling, and indicated that she’s applied information she learned in her FSHS classes to her work. She went on to say, “It’s worth it. You never know what difference in someone’s life you’re going to make.” Finally, Yesica suggested that those interested in the field of Family Studies and Human Services should be open to new experiences and opportunities. Coming into the field, she thought she would want to work with children and never thought she’d work with people with disabilities. She has found her current work to be very rewarding, and said, “I never thought that I would have enjoyed it this much!”
While a student, Yesica actively volunteered in the community, including by being a “big” for Big Brothers Big Sisters. She was also on the Healthy Lifestyles Panel, which allowed her to talk with Middle School age girls about decisions she’s made that led her to where she is now. Yesica also engaged in an internship with OCCK, Inc. Through her internship, Yesica was able to interact and work with individuals with disabilities by shadowing Independent Living Trainers and Case Managers and assisting in the Life Skills program and the Skills class.
While Yesica was completing her internship, the full-time Service Coordination Specialist position became available. After applying for the position and interviewing, Yesica was hired. Now in this position, she works as a case manager with adult and child clients. In this role, she works with her clients to set yearly goals, and works to help locate resources to aide clients in reaching their goals. She also participates in IEP meetings for her child clients, which enables her to learn what services the child receives at school so she can work to obtain similar services at home for the child.
Yesica said that the thing she enjoys most about her job is working with people. She described learning so much from people with disabilities and that she is glad she can be a safe person for her clients to talk to and for her to be able to find resources to help her clients.