{"id":1053,"date":"2017-08-01T12:25:35","date_gmt":"2017-08-01T19:25:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/southern-california\/?p=1053"},"modified":"2017-12-13T12:28:34","modified_gmt":"2017-12-13T20:28:34","slug":"from-the-playground-to-usc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/southern-california\/2017\/08\/01\/from-the-playground-to-usc\/","title":{"rendered":"From the Playground to USC"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After graduating from college, McKenna Griffith was searching for an opportunity where she could make an impact on students\u2019 lives. She was interested in youth development and wanted to hone her skills by earning a master\u2019s in social work, but McKenna knew that she needed more experience to successfully transition into a graduate program.<\/p>\n<p>When McKenna discovered the Playworks AmeriCorps coach position, she thought it would be the perfect opportunity to gain experience working with kids\u00a0and to strengthen her graduate school application. By delivering safe, healthy play to elementary schools, Mckenna would help students resolve conflicts, solve problems, and become more engaged learners\u2014experiences that she could utilize in her social work career and beyond.<\/p>\n<p>In fall 2015, McKenna started her\u00a0Playworks AmeriCorps service year at\u00a0Florence Griffith Joyner Elementary School\u00a0in the Watts neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA.<\/p>\n<p>Although Watts was different from her own community, as a Playworks coach, McKenna\u00a0found ways to connect with students and\u00a0to work together while celebrating differences.\u00a0McKenna found strength in Playworks\u2019 mission and knew that she was making a difference each time she stepped onto the playground.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI committed to service knowing that the days would be long and the work would be tough, but through it all I had a purpose to create change,\u201d said McKenna. \u201cI knew that each day would be more rewarding than the last.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of two years, McKenna found ways to connect her experiences as a coach to her social work career aspirations. Whether collaborating with school staff to play games that build students\u2019 social and emotional skills or supporting kids to make the best choices on the playground, Coach McKenna was learning how to work within the school community and advocate for students.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-8136 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/McKenna_250-1-201x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"220\" height=\"328\" \/>All of McKenna\u2019s hard work paid off. In the spring of 2017, McKenna was accepted into the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sowkweb.usc.edu\/\">University of Southern California\u2019s Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work<\/a>. Mckenna also earned a spot in the prestigious Pupil Personnel Services Credential program, through which she will receive her school social worker credential in a year.<\/p>\n<p>Before Playworks, McKenna never considered working in elementary schools. After serving as a Playworks AmeriCorps coach, McKenna says she learned what a big impact she could make in a student\u2019s life during this critical period of their development.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is the time that students are most vulnerable to positive and negative influences and need the most support,\u201d says McKenna. \u201cI want to be the person that shows them that they have the resources to succeed all around them if they persevere.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With Playworks, McKenna found her passion and purpose.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPlayworks has shown me that through the power of play anything is possible.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Curious how you can launch your career while making an impact on students\u2019 lives? Learn about<b><strong>\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.playworks.org\/about\/careers\/americorps\/\">Playworks AmeriCorps coach opportunities<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/b><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>We\u2019re still hiring paid\u00a0full- and part-time AmeriCorps members for the 2017-18 school year.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"button button--primary\" href=\"https:\/\/playworkseducation-openhire.silkroad.com\/epostings\/index.cfm?fuseaction=app.jobsearch&amp;newsort=1&amp;lorder=asc&amp;thiscol=location&amp;company_id=17080&amp;version=1&amp;byBusinessUnit=2&amp;bycountry=0&amp;bystate=0&amp;byRegion=NULL&amp;bylocation=NULL&amp;keywords=&amp;byCat=NULL&amp;proximityCountry=&amp;postalCode=&amp;radiusDistance=&amp;isKilometers=&amp;tosearch=yes&amp;city=\">Apply Now<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After graduating from college, McKenna Griffith was searching for an opportunity where she could make an impact on students\u2019 lives. She was interested in youth development and wanted to hone [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":117,"featured_media":1054,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"region":[],"class_list":["post-1053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-updates"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>From the Playground to USC - Southern California<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"After graduating from college, McKenna Griffith was searching for an opportunity where she could make an impact on students\u2019 lives. 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