From Suburbs to Social Worker

Ben Savage's first career as a computer network designer just wasn't having the impact he envisioned for his life's work. "I really enjoyed that work, but I didn't really feel I was making the world a different place," he says.

Instead, he will embark on a new career as a social worker after receiving his master's degree at UC's Commencement June 7.

The 27-year-old had received his bachelor's degree in philosophy from UC in 1997, but decided to switch to social work after picking up on several "hints" his life experiences had thrown his way.

At one point, a friend with a drug problem came to stay with him for a while to get back on track. "That really felt right. I felt it really energized me. Most people asked me if it was really draining, but it was the opposite," he says.

He had another foreshadowing that he would be called to social work as a UC undergraduate. He completed an elementary education internship at a Cincinnati school. "I really had a hard time telling second-graders that the most important thing we need to do today is learn the rules of grammar when one of the student's grandmothers had just been stabbed to death the day before... I really felt drawn to the needs of those children. Many had horrible life situations."

Savage, a 1993 graduate of Kings High School who now lives with his wife in Mariemont, has been named the National Association of Social Workers Student of the Year for southwest Ohio.

As a student of social work, he has worked with youth programs in Northern Kentucky. On any given day, there are 12 to 15 homeless kids living along the banks of the Ohio River in Northern Kentucky, he says. To help these nomadic youngsters, Savage has helped to develop a new program that reaches out to them, through Homeward Bound, a homeless shelter in Covington, Ky.

Ideally the program will have social workers out in the field four days a week, making contact with homeless teens. Right now, Savage is figuring out the administrative side of the program, writing an operations manual that will spell out how social workers can assess each case and make referrals to agencies that can provide aid.

While many of his former classmates are now teaching at suburban schools in Mason and West Chester, Savage feels called in another direction. He feels called to help those who live in poverty. "Kids who live in poverty aren't getting a fair shake," he says. "The likelihood of them rising above their circumstances is highly unlikely." But they are odds he is willing to fight.

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