Jami Walton

Jami Walton’s experience with service learning was so valuable that it led directly to a job. In 2017, she was a student in an Introduction to Social Work course taught by Jim Langford, associate professor in practice in the School of Social Work. Dr. Langford’s course required 20 hours of volunteering at the Salvation Army.Jami Walton standing in front of the Social Work building at U T A with a hand on her hip

Walton draws a straight line from that class to her former job as program manager at the Salvation Army in Arlington.

“If it weren’t for the service-learning experience, I wouldn’t be where I am,” Walton says. “Professor Langford sparked the light that set me on the path to where I am now.”

The organization soon hired her as a shelter monitor, then later promoted her to case management specialist and then again to program manager, where she oversaw operations for the homeless shelter, the kitchen staff, the cold weather shelter, and the community food pantry.

Walton, who graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work in 2019, fulfilled her commitment while finding her calling.

“To the people who walked through the doors of our shelter, I know I will forever be a part of their success stories,” says Walton, who is now working on her Master of Social Work at UTA. “I wanted to help them become something that they don’t see in themselves. I wanted them to know the shelter wasn’t their final destiny.”

Courtesy of UTA Magazine