Kayzia Teal — An Ambrosian Story
Kayzia Teal's tenacity and fortitude fill pages of Janesville: An American Story, 这是一部获奖作品，讲述了2008年圣诞节前两天，通用汽车(General Motors)一家装配厂关闭对威斯康星州一个正规买球平台有哪些的打击.
当他们所熟知的中产阶级经济保障随着他们父亲的工作而消失, Kayzia and her twin sister, Alyssa, 成为了克服严峻挑战的不屈不挠的典范.
To aid the family budget, Kayzia做了两份兼职工作，Alyssa在简斯维尔的帕克高中继续大学预科课程的同时也做了一份兼职. 当骄傲的父亲睡觉时，他们带着母亲拿着工资去买东西. Together, they earned enough money, one part-time paycheck at a time, to keep their household off of food stamp assistance. Kayzia在威斯康星大学普拉特维尔分校(University of Wisconsin-Platteville)完成了大学学业，只获得了最低限度的经济援助, working three jobs to pay her way.
普利策奖获奖记者艾米·戈尔茨坦进行了详尽的研究，并在毁灭性的工厂关闭九年后出版, Janesville: An American Story has been named Book of the Year by the Financial Times and McKinsey Business, 列出了前总统奥巴马的推荐书目, and earned five-star reviews from the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.
Kayzia cannot tell you if it's a good read, however. 她没有读这本书，因为她一直忙于生活在新的篇章中.
Call that Kayzia Teal: An Ambrosian Story.
On Saturday, May 11 - with her parents, her twin, her husband, Adam, 他们的儿子以斯拉和以利亚都是十九个月零九个星期, respectively) looking on - Kayzia will collect her St. Ambrose Master of Social Work degree.
这将是两年多来每周两次的高潮, three-hour one-way drives from Janesville to Davenport, 接下来的一年里，他们每周都要进行一次同样的跋涉. For many of those miles, she was pregnant with her boys.
再加上数不清的学习时间和混合在线课程, 再加上在距离简斯维尔一个半小时车程的威斯康辛县机构实习, 你的故事可以为凯齐亚的顽强意志锦上添花.
Still, Kayzia - whose name has biblical roots within the Book of Job 她并不认为自己的美国故事与其他25名可以买滚球的正规平台人的故事有什么特别的不同，他们也将在莫林的税务中心获得城市生活垃圾学位, Illinois, on Saturday.
Many of those classmates made use of the part-time, 这种混合选择让Kayzia在忙碌的育儿生活中完成了她的学位, working and providing.
"No one's situation is the same," she said. “我总是告诉别人，我的经历让我成长得更快, but I don't think they necessarily shaped who I am."
Indeed, 即使有卡车和suv不断从简斯维尔的装配线下线，Kayzia也会被驾驶起来，势不可挡. 她在青少年时期表现出的不寻常的力量不仅仅是在面对家庭危机时出现的.
她从安全带和成长的挑战中收获了什么, however, 是对公共需求和同情心力量的更深刻理解. 这些事情帮助她认识到社会工作是她的使命, beyond that, 社会工作实践的授权模式在圣. Ambrose was a perfect fit.
“从我很小的时候起，我就在奶奶工作的养老院做志愿者，”Kayzia说. "So, I have always had a passion to help people. 但我的经历使我能够运用我所学到的东西来与人产生共鸣，并真正与人建立联系."
That's experiences. Plural. Kayzia也知道9/11后退伍军人及其家人所承受的挑战, 她是通过小学的一部电影认识了比她稍大一点的男朋友 Fiddler on the Roof 她高中毕业时被派往阿富汗(亚当带着求婚回来了).)
这就是为什么她上个学期最重要的城市生活垃圾研究项目关注的是军人配偶和他们遇到的耻辱. More importantly, 这就是为什么她能够在咨询实习经历中与一位有自杀倾向的退伍军人建立联系，并冷静地指导他通过退伍军人管理局寻求帮助.
"As we were discharging him, 他说:“我想告诉你继续做你正在做的事情，因为我们需要更多像你这样的人。,"' Kayzia recalled.
Talk about empowerment.
“看到这里的人们在他们的正规买球平台有哪些里做着不同的事情, I really learned that policy and advocacy are important. I feel St. Ambrose has given me that voice to say ‘I can do this. I can stand up for what I believe in.”’
Kayzia Teal '19 MSW
Through St. 可以买滚球的正规平台，Kayzia说她已经学会了如何更好地发挥作用. “这个项目产生了很多好的东西，”她说.
“看到这里的人们在他们的正规买球平台有哪些里做着不同的事情, I really learned that policy and advocacy are important. I feel St. Ambrose has given me that voice to say ‘I can do this. I can stand up for what I believe in."'
Anyone who has read Janesville: An American Story knows that. 虽然她在情感上还不能读到那些失去的童年岁月, 卡齐亚有幸通过一位读过这本书的祖母的眼睛瞥见了这本书所揭示的东西.
“她说她从来都不明白我和妹妹所做的一切，直到她读到这些，”她说. "I thought about that a lot after she said it. I talked to my sister about it."
Kayzia意识到杂货和生物舒适现在比她想要的更重要. 但她想起了她帮助过的老兵，想起了最重要的是什么.
"That guy has really stuck with me," she said. "I am making a difference."
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