Maya Tsekenis, a second-year master’s degree student in the Graduate School of Social Service (GSS), was chosen to receive the Social Work Student of the Year Award from the New York State Social Work Education Association (NYSSWEA).
Tsekenis received the award on Friday, Oct. 5, at the association’s annual conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The association presents the award to both an undergraduate and graduate student who demonstrate social work leadership skills, outstanding scholarship and service to the community. Tsekenis founded and is president of the GSS Global Service student association. Global service is one of the areas of specialization that GSS offers graduate students.
“We are very pleased for Maya, and that one of our Fordham students is the recipient of this award,” said Elaine Congress, D.S.W., professor of social work and associate dean of GSS.
The award was presented by Congress and Carl Mazza, D.S.W., president of the NYSSWEA and assistant professor of sociology and social work at Lehman College. Mazza said that Tsekenis demonstrated a keen interest in international and social justice issues by, among other things, working with recent immigrants.
“We had several excellent candidates and it was a tough decision,” he said. “We thought that Maya fulfilled all the qualities of a professional social worker.”
NYSSEA is a statewide organization that provides a forum for the exchange of information between faculty, field instructors, students, and other social work practitioners regarding critical issues.
