Profile of a Scholarship Recipient
Carla Merchan, SW’07, is this year’s recipient of the Langsfeld Scholarship.
Carla Merchan, SW'07
Twice a week, Carla Merchan, SW’07 and recipient of the Langsfeld Scholarship, catches the NJ Transit train leaving New York’s Penn Station and begins her three-hour, two-train commute to Penn. How is it that a recent graduate of John Jay College of Criminal Justice – who originally wanted to be a U.S. Marshal and who currently lives in New York City – came to pursue a social work degree at the School of Social Policy & Practice? Quite simply, actually: her mentor, Matthew McGee, MSW’00 recommended the School and when she came to visit “she loved the campus and loved the curriculum.”
Carla’s social work field placements have allowed her to work with both sex offenders and victims of sexual assault and domestic violence. As a first year student, Carla completed an internship at Metropolitan Hospital in New York and this year she has a field placement at Mustard Seed Forensic Social Work Services in Brooklyn. In addition to her commute and her classes, Carla balances a full time job by attending her field placement for five hours, four nights a week. Her passion for her work extends beyond the amount of time she is required to spend at her placement; if she finds herself with free time, she often uses it by volunteering at her field placement agency. She has also been a tutor in the counseling offices at her old high school - P.S. 166, and has worked at Safe Horizon as a Rape and Sexual Assault Specialist. After she completes her social work degree, Carla anticipates returning to school for a degree in forensics and foresees working in law enforcement or for the government.
As benefactor Mickey Langsfeld explained in a recent interview, the student who receives the Langsfeld Scholarship is doing “something exceptional in the community, who is doing more than she has to do.” Carla’s commitment to the field, to the populations she serves, and to her education exemplifies Robert and Mickey Langsfeld’s intentions for a scholarship in honor of their mother. For more information on the Langsfeld Scholarship, click here.