Maria Graceffa

Maria graduated in May 2008 with a Human Services and Psychology Double Major from the College of Arts and Sciences. She completed three co-ops, her senior internship, and earned a Thomas E. McMahon Co-op Award for her devotion to serving the community. From the day she entered my door to talk about co-op, she was focused and enthusiastic about giving back to the community and learning about the counseling field.

She completed the following co-ops:

• Bay State Community Services: Granite House Milieu Staff Member
• CASCAP, Inc.: Green Street Program Interim Residential Counselor
• Bay State Community Services: Granite House Family Therapy Co-op
• McLean Hospital ADATP Research Co-op (on mental illness)

Maria devoted her co-ops, internships, and volunteering to serving others in the community, well and with integrity. She exhibited unusual resourcefulness and courage in her pursuit of co-op experiences to further her expertise in counseling, research, and direct care (human services). She made significant contributions to Granite House, CASCAP, Inc., and McLean Hospital in her tenure at these organizations.

Maria also integrated her work experience with her academic studies, by conducting research with Dean Stellar (the College of Arts and Sciences) on the IPEER experiential education project (co-op students participate in monthly student reflection meetings while on co-op to enhance their experience). Maria received amazing evaluations from her employers in co-op. Maria has taken full advantage of the co-op program for redirecting her education and for career exploration. She will be attending graduate School at Columbia in the fall of 09. Way to go Maria!