Berkeley Social Welfare is excited to honor students who strive for excellence, build community, and exemplify social work values. Congratulations to our Fall 2024 student award recipients!
Meet the Bridge Builder Award Winners
The Bridge Builder Award recognizes students who demonstrate exceptional ability in fostering connections, collaboration, and understanding across diverse communities and groups. We celebrate these students’ commitments to bridging divides and promoting inclusive and equitable social environments.
Amada Madrigal, BASW student
Amada carves out time from her busy schedule to build community with her fellow undergrads, including her involvement in SWAGG (Social Welfare Association for the Greater Good).
“Amada has taken leadership in helping to organize SWAGG events to bring undergrads together either for some fun or rest, or to engage in a joint community service project. SWAGG includes many leaders, but I see Amada as an important part of the ‘glue’ the other leaders need to stay engaged.”
Joy Zhou, PhD student
Prior to entering Berkeley’s doctoral program, Joy worked as a geriatric social worker, providing community-based depression treatment to older adults. She expanded services and outreach to Chinese-American older adults and their caregivers.
Since enrolling at UC Berkeley, Joy has recruited and interviewed Mandarin-speaking older adults in Oakland and San Francisco, as part of a project about civic participation. Recently, she worked with Assistant Professor Angie Perone on a project about creative caregiving in homeshare programs.
“Joy’s ability to seamlessly and compassionately build rapport with so many different communities reflects some of the key qualities that make her such a terrific bridge builder. She listens with both curiosity and compassion. She makes the effort and takes the time to build rapport with communities and community partners that are new to her and that may be initially distrustful of people who do not share historical or cultural history. She is a natural connector—of people, organizations, and ideas.”
Assistant Professor Angie Perone nominated Tré Coldon, Alec Paget, and Michael Solorio for their exceptional work as Graduate Student Researchers on a community-engaged project on aging among LGBTQIA+ older adults.
Tré Coldon, MSW student
“Tré expertly mediated conflicts during focus groups sharing the experiences of LGBTQIA+ older adults. Tré and his colleagues successfully redirected these conversations that provided participants with a sense of inclusion, mutual understanding, and an even deeper investment in the project. Several participants subsequently reached out to me to underscore how impressed they were with Tré (and his colleagues’) ability to seamlessly mediate these conflicts in the group discussions.”
Alec Paget, MSW student
“The focus group project initially intended to include only 10-14 focus groups with 100 participants. Alec’s deep investment and skill in bridge building allowed us to double our number of participants and engagement with community organizations.”
Michael Solario, MSW student
“Michael’s commitment to ensuring that diverse voices were included led to new community partners who would otherwise have been excluded (including El/La Para TransLatinas). Their efforts helped bring together 30 community organizations to a new coalition focused on LGBTQ+ aging in California.”
Meet the Light Keeper Award Winners
The Lightkeeper Award recognizes students who serve as a source of inspiration, resilience, and optimism within the Berkeley Social Welfare community. The following students bring light and hope to individuals and communities facing adversity. They embody the spirit of social work through compassion, advocacy, and their unwavering commitment to social justice.
Monica De La Cruz (PhD Student)
Monica, who holds a master’s degree in public health from UCSF, is passionate about advancing racial equity and supporting her fellow students. She serves as a researcher with the Abundant Birth Project, a guaranteed income program for pregnant Black and Pacific Islander people in San Francisco.
“Monica is a Diversity and Community Fellow and makes time to meet with students and engage in panels in that space…She never says no when we ask her to be on a panel to talk to current MSW and PhD students…I know she does it out of the goodness of her soul, and not for the spotlight.”
Marc Tutwiler (BASW student)
Marc, an undergraduate student who recently transferred to Berkeley, quickly became involved in giving back to the local community. As a new member of SWAGG (Social Welfare Association for the Greater Good), he organized a donation drive for Project Pride, a home for women and children who are experiencing difficulties and need support.
“Marc is outgoing and always in joyful spirits. We have multiple responsibilities as students, and he gracefully juggles his commitments.”
Thank you to all the award winners for contributing to the Berkeley Social Welfare community!