{"id":73521,"date":"2024-12-09T14:58:24","date_gmt":"2024-12-09T21:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=73521"},"modified":"2024-12-09T14:58:24","modified_gmt":"2024-12-09T21:58:24","slug":"jocelyn-andrade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/jocelyn-andrade\/","title":{"rendered":"Graduate Jocelyn Andrade: Supporting \u2018unseen\u2019 Arizonans"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jocelyn Andrade <\/span><\/b>has always had a special place in her heart for unseen people.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

In Somerton, her small southwestern Arizona town, there are plenty of them. Thousands of migrant farmworkers travel to Yuma County to help supply Americans with 90% of the lettuce they buy and eat between November and March.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn my church, I sit next to older women who wake up at 4 a.m., cross the border, pick lettuce, come home at 6 p.m. and cook dinner every day,\u201d Andrade said. \u201cMost people don\u2019t realize how hard these people work to earn barely enough money to feed their families. I live here and I see it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jocelyn<\/a>
Andrade and her peers raised enough money to buy more than 2,000 pairs of warm socks for farmworkers for a recent Dia del Campesino event.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps that\u2019s why Andrade has been so committed to advocating for migrant farmworkers as a social work student at NAU\u2019s Yuma campus. Working with peers, she raised enough money to buy more than 2,000 pairs of warm socks for farmworkers for a recent Dia del Campesino event\u2014then, she helped inspire others to do the same in a presentation at this year\u2019s World Social Science Association Conference.<\/span><\/p>\n

Those aren\u2019t the only unseen people she\u2019s helped while at NAU, said<\/span> Kara Ahearn<\/span><\/b>, an assistant clinical professor of social work. Andrade also participated in Yuma\u2019s annual Point-In-Time Count to help the city serve its homeless population, spent a summer in Kenya providing humanitarian aid to orphans and families and logged more than 400 hours at Amberly\u2019s Place, a Yuma nonprofit that supports and advocates for victims of sexual abuse, domestic violence, elder abuse and human trafficking.\u202f<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJocelyn has a huge heart, and her nonjudgmental approach and ability to empathize with others is truly exceptional,\u201d Ahearn said. \u201cHer passion for strengthening families and helping vulnerable mothers has been a theme throughout her time at NAU.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding new life<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Perhaps Andrade\u2019s most formative volunteer experience as a Lumberjack was at New Life Pregnancy Center, a faith-driven hub providing support for planned or unplanned pregnancies. She wasn\u2019t just fulfilled by the work of reaching out to expectant parents; she was also touched by the way the staff took her under their wing.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jocelyn<\/a>
Andrade spent two years volunteering at New Life Pregnancy Center, a faith-driven hub providing support for planned or unplanned pregnancies.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cOriginally, I went there because I was required to find an internship for my degree,\u201d Andrade said. \u201cBut for two years after that, I didn\u2019t stop volunteering because they cared so deeply about my well-being as a student, as a woman and as a young person still figuring out how the world works. I didn\u2019t think I\u2019d ever find work this fulfilling as a student.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrade said that after commencement in December, she\u2019ll pursue a master\u2019s degree in social work at ASU Local-Yuma and a career in victim advocacy. But that wasn\u2019t always the plan.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After graduating from high school, Andrade earned a full scholarship to Arizona Western College. At first, unsure which path to take, she dabbled in criminal justice and English. With help from the director of the college\u2019s honors program, she realized her passion was in social services and earned an associate\u2019s degree in family studies.<\/span><\/p>\n

Andrade then found herself in an enviable position: As a recipient of Phi Theta Kappa\u2019s All-USA Academic Team Scholarship, she could transfer to any public Arizona university and earn a bachelor\u2019s degree tuition-free. She wrestled with the choice: venture out somewhere new or stay close to home?<\/span><\/p>\n

The friendliness and flexibility of the social work department was a major factor in choosing NAU Yuma.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cUsually, the transfer process is a lot of work for students,\u201d Andrade said, \u201cbut Kara and NAU Yuma made it so easy for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Jocelyn<\/a>
Andrade said she “learned how to be a generous person” from her parents.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Paying it forward<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Another major factor in Andrade\u2019s decision was her mother, who was deported to Mexico once when Andrade was 8 and again three years later.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because her mother can\u2019t enter the U.S., \u201cshe\u2019s had to miss our high school graduation, my brother\u2019s kindergarten promotions, my sister\u2019s wedding and now my graduation\u2014major milestones,\u201d Andrade said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Today, things are looking up for Andrade\u2019s family. Her father became a respiratory therapist at a local hospital after two years spent juggling full-time manual labor in Yuma with full-time schooling in the Valley. Her mother has found success as a small business owner just across the border, maintaining a close relationship with Andrade and her five siblings despite the wall separating them.\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned to be a generous person from my parents,\u201d Andrade said. \u201cThey struggled and overcame barriers so we wouldn\u2019t have to. I\u2019m here, getting a degree on a full scholarship, pursuing my dreams, because of their sacrifices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/span><\/p>\n


\nJill Kimball | NAU Communications
\n(928) 523-2282 | jill.kimball@nau.edu<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jocelyn Andrade has always had a special place in her heart for unseen people.\u202f In Somerton, her small southwestern Arizona town, there are plenty of them. Thousands of migrant farmworkers travel to Yuma County to help supply Americans with 90% of the lettuce they buy and eat between November and March.\u202f\u00a0 \u201cIn my church, I…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":73522,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-faculty-staff"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}