Right from the start, it looked like Angie Laursen Burd ’09 M’19 would live and work as a social worker in her hometown of Penn Yan, near Keuka College. Her practicum at Keuka College, working with students in the Counseling Center cemented her career choice.
“It was an awesome experience,” she says. “I loved it.”
And upon graduating with her bachelor’s degree in social work through the AOE program, the Family Planning Center in Penn Yan immediately hired her.
Life put a detour in that road, however.
Her husband’s job took the couple to Oklahoma. Working in Child Welfare there, the trauma she saw in families created a passion in Angie to work with families and children on a more clinical level.
“I loved that I was able to pick up my BSW degree from Keuka College and use it across the country,” she says. “In one year, I moved from a Level 1 to a Level 3 social worker. My degree was valued and respected.”
With the arrival of two young children, the couple moved back to Penn Yan to be closer to family, and Angie headed straight to Keuka College for her master’s degree.
“I was so thrilled to see that Keuka College now offered the MSW degree,” she recalls. “I knew I'd have my master’s in one year in the AOE program.”
Like many fellow alumni, Angie credits Professors Jennifer Mealey, Stephanie Craig and Alexis Glennon, and Dr. Doyle Pruitt for their support and guidance, which continued after graduation.
Today, Angie is an addiction and mental health therapist at Rochester Regional Health in Clifton Springs. Her goal is to continue to work toward licensure and eventually be in private practice as a therapist.
