Olivia Alvarado’25 thought about graduate school and a career in public service during a two-week program at the University of Michigan this summer.

What initially got you interested in your research?

The Duffy Program is how I got my start with community-based learning and made the connections to begin thinking about my research. I interned for two Duffy Partnerships seminars with Family Promise of Greater Beloit, the local shelter for the unhoused. I’m looking at resource use for the displaced and how to better understand the population in order to undo stigma.

I come from a lower-class [background] and have to rely on a lot of government resources: SNAP, EBT. My mother is on disability. Really and truly, that’s the reason I’m able to be at Beloit, plus federal student aid (FAFSA). For something as big as moving from Florida to Wisconsin, [I received] enough [financial assistance from Beloit] to where I felt comfortable and supported. I had never even taken an in-person tour of campus. I went out on a limb, and it has paid off.

There’s so much stigma around resource use. I’m so glad that McNair [a program that supports first-generation and low-income students and students with disabilities] has never felt like that — no resources I’ve gotten at Beloit have felt like they’ve come with that stigma. It’s been a beautiful balance: recognizing me as the whole person that I am and that I do need financial support, AND also recognizing me as a professional in the sociology field and as a researcher. Beloit has been amazing about that.

I really loved the [Family Promise] position because it cemented the learning stance of the Duffy Program, which is that you can learn from absolutely anyone. I asked questions 24/7, whether that was to residents or staff or executive directors. Coming at the experience from a sociological lens was really important to get what I wanted out of the experience.

What were your duties as an intern?

Whatever they needed hands with — taking waitlist phone calls, overseeing the shelter, running the dinner program with volunteers, and childcare. It was a really great opportunity to work with so many demographics I had no previous experience with. I had these raw, unfiltered conversations with people. I think when it comes to the unhoused population, people walk on eggshells because they want to be polite, but that blocks them from having real conversations and asking important questions. That’s how change is made, by putting yourself in those situations.

How did this research interest lead to you joining the McNair Program?

Carol Wickersham, the director of Duffy at the time, recommended that I look into McNair my sophomore year. I didn’t know what it was, and she was like, “Trust me on this one.” I applied, and it was an amazing fit. I found out that I really like research, specifically ethnographic, community-based sociology. For my first summer with McNair, I talked to three shelter residents about resource use in the area and what they had good experiences with. This summer, I was looking at resource use for the unhoused, specifically for Covid relief. I’m doing a content analysis to see what the general perception was — if those resources were deemed effective and a good use of government funding. The technological barrier was big — people being disconnected and not knowing what resources are available, not having a physical social security card, background checks, confusing applications, not having a personal cell phone or reliable wifi.

Olivia, in the black beanie, with her cohort at the MICHHERS program in Michigan this summer.

What was the University of Michigan program like?

It was not an easy experience, but it was such an important one. The two-week program was more of a time of personal development than steeping myself in research. It created an open door for me to think about graduate school realistically and engage with scholars. The University of Michigan has some of the best sociology scholars [in the country], so I got to meet important people who are actively doing the work. We’d have panels and workshops and opportunities to build casual relationships with my cohort [of other undergraduates from across the country]. At the end, I gave a share-out of my first year of research. It was great to close on a note where we could celebrate all the work we’d done.

When I first got there, I was so intimidated by my cohort. I saw all of these great people and was like, “Do I belong here? Is the work I’m doing important? And how can I pursue this work if I don’t know if it stacks up or not?” I had to have a lot of internal conversations with myself and learn how to be proud of the work I’m doing, because it is important. There were students in the cohort coming from Yale and getting published, and they were all super supportive and amazing individuals. I had to strip down my defenses and take the time to analyze why I had to compare.

By the end, I understood that, unless you want to burn out, you have to put yourself first and advocate for your needs, especially as a person of color in those spaces. I also have chronic illness limitations. I want to build community for what I’m doing, but it’s also so important to listen to [my] body and take time for [me].

“The two-week program was more of a time of personal development than steeping myself in research. It created an open door for me to think about graduate school realistically and engage with scholars,” says Olivia.

Did the experience give you a better sense of what your post-Beloit life could look like?

It definitely brought a lot more nuance into the long-term decision making process! It helped me decide that it’s okay to take a gap year before pursuing graduate school and that I can use that to do a Fulbright — which I’m applying for now — or AmeriCorps. I’d be getting experience in the field and doing direct service to understand if I want to be more involved in the population. I have a short list of schools — and have a year to shorten it — and Michigan is very high on that list.

The program was also buzzing with queer life, which was amazing for me. Another part of these two weeks was realizing that I am queer. I went to my first Pride parade. It was this beautiful mix of finding direction in my personal life and academic and researcher life.

Who is your favorite Beloit professor?

Sociology professor Kate Linnenberg is my Wisconsin mother, my mentor — someone who sees things in me that I can’t see myself. Since I took intro to sociology with her my freshman year, things just made sense the way she explained them: “Here is the text, here is the foundation, and here’s why it matters and the populations being affected today. This is why we need to care.” She has been such a role model for the work I want to do and being a professor of sociology. To be able to facilitate those conversations for future generations is the way I would love to make change, and that’s what she’s done for me.

Olivia after their presentation on their research on the unhoused in Beloit.

What brings you joy as a student?

I like bobbing around all of the different spaces at Beloit and seeing what they have to offer. I was in Latinx Voices recently and got to explore different aspects of my identity. Being raised as a fourth-generation American, [I explored] what that means for my relationship with my culture, and I got to speak with a lot of people who came from different places. I was living at the Latinx Voices special interest house, and [senior year] I’m going to be living in SAGA and exploring a different aspect of my identity.

I love doing community-based learning classes — it’s what empowers me. There was the sociology capstone, where we worked with Beloit Fresh Start [run by Community Action], working with [young] people trying to navigate the world without a formal high school diploma. Through the program, they get a GED. We gave workshops on career readiness. I also worked with Family Services of Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois in the Families in Transition community-based learning class with Kate Linnenberg. For that, we worked with DEFY and would go into the domestic abuse center and put on events. You could see the transition from not trusting us — these outsiders coming into their living space — to this blossoming of community.

It’s hard to not be stuck [feeling like] I’m just one person, I can’t do anything. But when you have those experiences outside of the classroom, where you see that the energy that you’re putting in is being recognized, it’s so rewarding.