- University News Archive - 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock /news-archive/tag/master-of-social-work-program/ 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Mon, 02 May 2022 20:22:46 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Alum Competes in Boston Marathon /news-archive/2022/05/02/meg-berry-boston-marathon/ Mon, 02 May 2022 20:22:46 +0000 /news/?p=81487 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Alum Competes in Boston Marathon]]> 鈥淚t was an experience that I will never forget,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淚f you are going to run a marathon, Boston is the one to do.鈥 Unlike most of the 30,000 runners who ran the race, Berry completed the Boston Marathon with a smaller group of approximately 300 people who ran in the marathon鈥檚 . Presented by the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism, the program provides support for athletes with visual, physical, or intellectual impairments to take part in the Boston Marathon. Born three months premature, Berry is blind in her right eye. Runners with a visual impairment can apply to race the adaptive program of the Boston Marathon if they have previously completed a marathon with a time of under five hours. Berry did so with a time of 4:41:03 at the Louisiana Marathon in 2020. She hopefully applied and waited for her chance at the Boston Marathon. 鈥淚 still can鈥檛 believe I was accepted,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 still surreal that I got to run in the Boston Marathon. I had to choose my own guide runner. My friend, Chris Shuptrine, has run some marathons with me. Marathons are hard, but the whole atmosphere was incredible.鈥 Adaptive program runners begin the marathon after the elite men and women but before the general runners. 鈥淲e got up to the start line, and I was like, 鈥極h my gosh, I can鈥檛 believe we are at the Boston Marathon,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淭here were crowds on either side, and it was incredible. Eventually, the largest wave of runners came after it. We had to move to the right side, so we didn鈥檛 get run over. Chris made sure I didn鈥檛 trip over anyone for a few miles as 30,000 runners passed us.鈥 Berry said the most incredible part of the experience was the support she received from crowds of fans who lined the streets to watch the marathon as well as her fellow racers. 鈥淭he spectators out there were incredible,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淭here is one section where we go right past Wellesley College, an all-girls school. They call it the scream tunnel. You鈥檝e got all these girls screaming at you and giving you high fives. We could hear the screams before we even got there. That was pretty cool. We had so many runners who passed and told us we were their heroes. We had the support of so many runners that it was incredible.鈥
Meg Berry and Chris Shuptrine compete in the Boston Marathon.

Meg Berry and Chris Shuptrine compete in the Boston Marathon.

Berry said that she and Shuptrine encountered some tough obstacles to finishing the race. They both encountered stomach problems throughout the race. Starting at mile 17, the course took on rolling hills that made the final miles tough. 鈥淚鈥檓 grateful to God and to Chris for being willing to go to Boston with me,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淲e helped each other through the later miles. You end the race in Boston, and the crowds are amazing. It was so loud that Chris said his ears were ringing. At that point, you are just tired and want to stop. The crowds are what kept me going. I owe so much to Chris. I couldn鈥檛 have done this without him.鈥 With her time of 4:50:47, Berry has qualified to run in next year鈥檚 Boston Marathon and plans to apply for the race. The time came as a surprise to Berry, who feared that she wouldn鈥檛 complete the race in under five hours due to injuries she鈥檚 had over the past two years that has interfered with her running. 鈥淚 never thought I would have another marathon under five hours, and I am just overjoyed and surprised,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 injured my hip and hamstrings back in 2020, and it really put a stop to my running. 2020 and 2021 were tough so I am so grateful to be doing better now and able to run again! To prepare for the marathon, Berry follows Hal Higdon鈥檚 marathon training schedule, which culminates with a 20-mile run a few weeks before the marathon. 鈥淐hris and his wife Anita surprised me on the day I was doing my 20 miler,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淭hey secretly got my friends together, and they all made signs along the route. There were also people who came out to run with us. It鈥檚 tough doing 20 miles by yourself. That was a good day.鈥 A 2012 graduate of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Master of Social Work program, Berry spent nine years working at the Arkansas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. This year, she began work as a social worker/therapist at Arkansas Children鈥檚 Hospital. 鈥淚 work with adolescents with eating disorders,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 love working here. It鈥檚 an amazing place to be.鈥

Runner Meg Berry and her guide Chris Shuptrine celebrate after running the Boston Marathon.

In 2016, Berry started running by completing a training program with the Women Run Arkansas group. During the 10-week program, runners trained and competed in their first 5k races. 鈥淚 loved it, and I started signing up for more races,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淓ventually, I progressed to marathons. I鈥檝e done 18 marathons so far, including Boston. I can鈥檛 imagine my life without running and all the amazing people I鈥檝e met within our running community. I am so grateful to running for bringing such wonderful friends into my life.鈥 Berry, who will turn 40 on May 7, said she will celebrate her milestone birthday with a 4-mile run. For her next marathon, she will travel to New York to compete in the New York City Marathon on Sunday, Nov. 6. Meanwhile, she鈥檚 thankful for the newfound strength and friends that running has brought to her life. 鈥淩unning has really changed my life with the people it鈥檚 brought into my life and the overall confidence it鈥檚 given me that I can persevere,鈥 Berry said. 鈥淚 guess I鈥檓 stronger than I think I am. Running a marathon is all about perseverance and making it through the pain and the fatigue. It鈥檚 all about your strength. It鈥檚 really shown me that I am capable of more than I thought I was.鈥漖]> 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock alum becomes homeowner through University District affordable housing program /news-archive/2019/10/23/alum-homeowner-university-district-program/ Wed, 23 Oct 2019 14:14:07 +0000 /news/?p=75309 ... 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock alum becomes homeowner through University District affordable housing program]]> A University of Arkansas at Little Rock graduate has achieved her dream of becoming a homeowner with the help of the University District鈥檚 First Time Homebuyer Program.听 Cadie Foscue, a May graduate of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 Master of Social Work program who now works as a social impact analyst at the in Little Rock, had dreamt of the stability of a permanent home ever since she was a child.听 鈥淎s someone whose parents are divorced, I grew up traveling between houses,鈥 Foscue said. 鈥淭he finality of owning a home and not having to worry about where I am going to live next year is freeing. Having a home offers you stability and freedom.鈥听 The path to homeownership for many Millennials is often delayed by student loan debt and low starting wages. The homeownership rate among those ages 25 to 34 is 8 percent lower than the baby boomers and 8.4 percent lower than Generation X, according to . The need-based First Time Homebuyer Program addresses the affordable housing crisis by providing first-time homebuyers up to $20,000 for down payment and closing costs to purchase a home constructed or renovated by University District. The First Time Homebuyer Program is financed through the city of Little Rock with funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development HUD HOME Program. 鈥淲e believe that anyone making a prevailing wage should be able to live in University District at an affordable price, and we work with all the neighborhood associations who make up University District to make this a reality,鈥 said Barrett Allen, executive director of University District.听 Foscue, who closed on her home on Aug. 17, purchased the 1,400-square-foot home with three bedrooms and two baths for $125,000. She received a $15,000 subsidy from University District that covered her down payment and closing costs, costs that might have prevented her from owning a home for many years. Now, Foscue is the proud owner of her home in the University District鈥檚 Midtown Neighborhood, northeast of 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock鈥檚 campus, where she lives with her miniature Doxin Dachshund, Jessie, and two cats, Ashe and Moira.听 鈥淭he program allows for young people like me to live in more affordable houses in the district. I think that鈥檚 really beautiful,鈥 she said. 鈥淚 already feel like part of the neighborhood, and I love it when people say, 鈥楬i Cadie,鈥 as I drive in my car with the windows rolled down.鈥听 Foscue learned about University District鈥檚 housing program last year after Laura Danforth, 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock assistant professor of social work, sent Foscue and her class to Allen to find out about local community organizations where they could volunteer.听 鈥淚n my macro social work course, student groups are able to engage in transformative, experiential learning by partnering with a local community agency to help facilitate organizational or community change-effort planning,鈥 Danforth said. 鈥淪tudents in the past couple of years have helped develop a database for the trauma-informed child care center at St. Luke’s Methodist Church and have worked with the University District office to increase 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock faculty engagement in non-traditional service learning projects. These students are passionate and hungry for experience, and the community partners within the University District have been great to work with!鈥听 Foscue鈥檚 group volunteered with St. Luke鈥檚 United Methodist Church to research adverse childhood experiences.听 鈥淲e got connected with St. Luke鈥檚 because we wanted to work with people who had experienced adverse childhood experiences,鈥 Foscue said. 鈥淭hey are running a program to help people in the area who experienced childhood trauma. We wrote a paper on how adverse childhood experiences impact people on a multi-generational level.鈥 During this time, Foscue met Allen and learned about the district鈥檚 efforts to support affordable housing in the area.听 鈥淓arlier this year, my lease was coming up, and I was fantasizing about buying a home since I was about to graduate,鈥 Foscue said. 鈥淚 was so impassioned by working with University District during my social work project. I remembered that University District had just finished building some houses, but I had never seen them. I searched Zillow and marked three of my favorite houses in the area. I remember thinking, 鈥榃ouldn鈥檛 it be funny if they are the University District houses?鈥听 It turns out that one of the Foscue鈥檚 favorite houses was a University District house. In fact, Foscue only toured one home with her realtor, Kerrie Joiner, because it was love at first sight.听 鈥淚 went and saw the house, and I was in love with it,鈥 Foscue said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 even look at the other two I marked on Zillow. Driving around the house, I knew it was the right choice.鈥 Now that Foscue has the home of her dreams, she said her priorities have shifted, and she鈥檚 now focused on maintaining her home for the future.听 鈥淚 take a lot of pride in owning a home,鈥 she said. 鈥淥ne of my friends said the definition of being an adult is owning a home. It does shift your priorities. Instead of saving money for a vacation, my primary focus is to save money for maintaining my home and making it my own. I know I want to go to Disney World. Instead of going on a vacation that will be fun for a week, I鈥檒l buy a fence that will hopefully last forever. Then I can get another dog. That is just as good as Disney World.鈥 ]]>