Savanna Worley
Savanna Worley is a third-year first-generation student at the University of Minnesota studying psychology. She is also a student parent and a cohort member with the Raise the Barr initiative.
“I’m on a journey. It’s personal to me. I decided to enroll in college because I was a teen mom, and I come from — to simply put it — chaos and dysfunction, just the struggle as it is. I’m the oldest of six children to a single mother and the child of an incarcerated father. That’s pretty much how I grew up and just like growing up in poverty and the effects that had on me as a child. So I felt like, OK, I see people go to college and they become successful, this is what I need to do. I was pregnant with my second child my first semester of college. And so I was just doing what I thought I had to do. However, at that point in my life, I definitely still lacked the true belief in myself. I didn’t really think I was capable. I was just trying to do what I felt was best.
At this point in my education — depending on where I go with it — I am hoping to go to grad school, and if I do, I think I wouldn’t necessarily continue psychology. Maybe I would consider studying psychiatry just because, ultimately, I think we need a new approach on mental health. I don’t think it’s one size fits all. I think that’s why we have these continued cycles generation after generation. People struggle and they can’t break it. So I think it would be important to understand the nature of medicines a little deeper.
I’ve had a lot of full circle moments recently. Finishing my two-year transfer from Normandale last spring — it’s just a two year associate’s degree, and that’s so minimal, right? Like, what can you even do with that, right? But for me, I started that degree literally 10 years ago prior to graduating. Actually walking across the stage, wearing a cap and gown, I was like, ‘No way.’
I’m excited to see what’s in store and not even just my accomplishments. But seeing what I can do to be a part of the helping professions.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Interviewed by Elijah Awada