{"id":238668,"date":"2025-12-03T14:42:46","date_gmt":"2025-12-03T19:42:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=238668"},"modified":"2025-12-08T12:35:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T17:35:25","slug":"non-traditional-student-kildare-27-encouraged-by-bsw-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2025\/12\/non-traditional-student-kildare-27-encouraged-by-bsw-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Non-Traditional Social Work Student Encouraged by BSW Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

After working as a hair stylist for 14 years, Natalie Kildare ’27 (SSW) knew she had a natural ability to connect with people.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy clients came in for a haircut, but I was also their therapist,\u201d she says. \u201cI got to know so many of them on a deeply personal level, and they developed a real trust in me.\u201d<\/p>\n

While she enjoyed the creative side of hairdressing, Kildare realized she wanted to make a broader, more systemic impact. As a single mother of two boys, she also \u201cneeded to get creative\u201d in building a stable career to support her family.<\/p>\n

“I realized there were parts of me I still wanted to explore,” she says. “I enjoyed working with people, building relationships, [and] hearing their stories. These experiences pushed me to think about how I could help on a larger scale. That\u2019s when I decided to go back to school.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kildare spent two years at a local community college, earning her associate\u2019s degree. But she knew she wanted to continue her education.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing into social work just made sense,\u201d she says. \u201cIt was already an extension of the work I was doing\u2014listening, supporting, and advocating.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Going into social work just made sense. It was already an extension of the work I was doing\u2014listening, supporting, and advocating. — BSW Student Natalie Kildare<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Encouraged by one of her professors, she looked into the UConn School of Social Work.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was happy to see that the BSW program has a small cohort. That felt intentional and personal. I knew I\u2019d get individual attention and support.\u201d<\/p>\n

She applied\u2014and anxiously awaited an answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I received my acceptance letter, I opened it in front of my 12-year-old son,\u201d she recalls. \u201cHe got to see his mom reach a major academic goal. This was something that we were able to celebrate together. I hope that that will inspire him in the future and I’m sure it will. And he’ll never forget the moment that his mom got accepted into UConn.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now nearing the end of her first semester, Kildare found courses that resonated deeply with her, especially Social Policy and Social Justice.<\/p>\n

\"Natalie<\/a>
Natalie Kildare ’27 participates in a salsa dance class Sept. 16 as part of Hispanic Heritage Month celebrations at the UConn Hartford campus. (Olivia Drake | UConn Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cAs an older adult and a mother, I want to be informed,\u201d she says. \u201cSocial Policy gave me a deep understanding of the history behind our systems and why they function the way they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

And as a non-traditional student, Kildare also considers herself “the big sister” to her younger classmates.<\/p>\n

\u201cNon-traditional-aged undergraduate <\/span>students like Natalie enrich our program in profound ways,” says Paula Nieman, assistant professor-in-residence and BSW Program Director. “She draws on her lived experience, her compassion, and her natural ability to connect with people. Those qualities make her not only a successful student, but a future social worker who will have a meaningful impact in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Kildare feels empowered by the many paths her degree will open.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a social work degree, I have options,\u201d she says. \u201cI can work in hospitals, medical facilities, schools, juvenile detention centers, nonprofits, or even private practice as a therapist,\u201d she says. \u201cThis degree gives me the flexibility to find the place where I can make the biggest impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch a video of Kildare sharing her experience on UConn SSW YouTube channel<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

‘When I received my acceptance letter, I opened it in front of my 12-year-old son. He got to see his mom reach a major academic goal’<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":201,"featured_media":238677,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2193,2649,1870,99,2235,92,2306,2458],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2514],"class_list":["post-238668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hartford-county","category-blue-pride","category-ssw","category-student-life","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-hartford","category-uconn-voices","category-undergraduates"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-10 22:44:34","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/201"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238668"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":238775,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238668\/revisions\/238775"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/238677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238668"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=238668"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=238668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}