Margaret Grace’s Summer Peacemaking Fellowship

Her fellowship took her to an orphanage in Peru where she provided mental health services for at-risk youth. She learned how these youth respond to violence and conceptualize peace.

Margaret Grace enrolled in Marquette’s Clinical Psychology Ph.D program to develop a career around her passion for providing mental health services for Latino youth.

With this dream in mind, she set two personal and professional goals for herself: First, to refine her Spanish language skills. Second, to gain more field experience with Latino youth.

She learned about the PASEO program while searching for ways to accomplish these goals. PASEO, or the Psychology and Spanish Elective Opportunity program, is a three-week Spanish language immersion program in Huanchaco, Peru designed specifically for mental health professionals.

A feeling of excitement overcame her upon discovering this program. It was exactly the opportunity she was looking for. However, Margaret knew she would need help to make this happen because, as she said, “the program costs were substantial.”

Margaret then turned her attention to applying for a summer peacemaking fellowship. These fellowships are available for students like her because of donors like you. And in Margaret’s case, she wouldn’t have been able to pursue this opportunity otherwise.

So when Margaret received news that she was awarded a fellowship, she immediately booked her ticket and began preparing for the program.

In Peru, she fully engaged with both components of the program: language classes and a field placement. She excelled in the coursework designed to strengthen her linguistic and clinical skills, and she thrived while providing mental health services to children in a low resource region of Peru.

Margaret’s service learning field placement was at Mundo de Niños, an orphanage for boys age 6 to 18. Though young, the life experiences of these boys make them at-risk for mental health issues.

She worked with sixteen boys at the orphanage in individual and group settings to develop the coping, conflict resolution, and social skills they need to overcome their negative childhood experiences and achieve future success.

Through her fellowship, Margaret learned tangible skills and gained valuable experience to better provide mental health services to Latino populations in the United States and globally.

Thanks to our donors, Margaret was able to achieve the two goals she set for herself as she readies for her future career as a mental health professional.