ROCK HILL, SOUTH CAROLINA – The South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (SC-NASW) has named a Winthrop University faculty member and a student as its Social Worker of the Year and BSW Student of the Year.
Social Work Department Chair Anthony Hill and social work major Katrina Gainey were recognized at the chapter’s April 9 virtual awards ceremony.
Hill said the awards help highlight the excellent work that faculty, staff and students are doing in the Department of Social Work.
Gainey couldn’t say enough good things about the department, noting that without Hill’s mentorship, she wouldn’t have had so many opportunities.
“These opportunities have helped to further my competency as a social worker,” said the Rock Hill resident. “[The department] has molded me into the confident, competent and outspoken person that I am today. I now have the tools to be successful outside of this program. To have been recognized with this prestigious award is an honor because it shows that I have made a difference throughout my undergraduate career, to know that my contributions and hard work have not gone unnoticed.”
About Anthony Hill:
Hill earned his Master of Social Work and Ph.D. in social work from Howard University. In addition to being a licensed clinical social worker, he’s also a certified financial worker and certified clinical trauma professional. His research areas include adolescent risk and resilience, and financial social work.
He joined the Winthrop community in 2018, where he serves not just as chair, but graduate program director.
“The values of the social work profession are so very closely aligned with my personal values,” Hill said. “It was a no-brainer for me to enter the field of social work.”
About Katrina Gainey:
Gainey has always loved volunteering in the community and making a difference. Her misconceptions about the social work field were completely changed when she volunteered at a women’s shelter in high school.
“I learned that social work is a broad field and that my supervisor was a social worker,” she explained. “I loved making a difference in their lives while providing them with vital resources. This experience drew me to social work because I wanted to advocate, produce change and help as much as possible…supporting others while enhancing their overall well-being gave me a sense of satisfaction.
“The social work profession embodied everything that I stood for,” she continued. “At that moment, I truly understood the saying, ‘If you do what you love, then you will never work a day in your life.’”
Gainey will graduate this May and plans to earn her M.S.W.
For more information about Winthrop’s social work major, visit the website at www.winthrop.edu/socialwork.
