Meet Our Students – Breanna Miller (May ’16)

Breanna Miller (May '16) and her dog, Harbor.

Breanna Miller is pursuing an MSW (Clinical Concentration) and MPH (Health Promotion and Behavior) with a Certificate in Non-Profit Management.  Ms. Miller earned her Bachelor of Science in Education (B.S.Ed) with a major in health and physical education from Valdosta State University.

Her decision to enter graduate school is in pursuit of eliminating barriers that inhibit young people in reaching their full potential.  Her long-term goal is to work with children in multiple capacities.

She will be completing the integrated field placement at Mercy Health Center this fall where she will serve as a whole person care consultant.  She will have the opportunity to integrate all aspects of health care including mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health.  Additional tasks Ms. Miller will be engaged in at Mercy include consulting on the research Hepatitis C team, assisting with the volunteer coordination program, and conducting patient intake assessments.

Ms. Miller was awarded the Traffic Safety Research and Evaluation research assistantship where she works with Dr. Carol Cotton.  She manages and analyzes a traffic fatality database, evaluates grants, conducts research, and coordinates public outreach events.  She was invited to present her research on bicycle safety at the 2014 Lifesavers Conference.  Her current project is an observational study on bicycle safety in Athens. 

Ms. Miller shares her journey to pursue the MSW MPH Dual Degree:

“A Superhero, Not a Teacher”

I grew up in a household with three wonderful older sisters! My parents were both teachers in the local school system. Throughout my childhood, my sisters and I frequently played “teacher”. Well, mostly I played “student” because after all, I am the youngest. My passion for teaching only grew through my childhood and adolescent years. I found myself increasingly intrigued by the lasting impressions several of my teachers and coaches made throughout my adolescence. At times, I felt as though I owed unconditional gratitude to several of my idols who made my teenage years tolerable. I knew one day I wanted to be that positive influential individual that was able to be a breath of fresh air for a child who was in need. What would be a better way to accomplish that mission other than to become an educator? So, I graduated college with a Bachelor’s of Science in Education, took the state certification exam, became board certified in the state of Georgia, and started my profession, that I was sure, would help me be all of the children’s superhero! Of course, it wasn’t that simple. The geographical area I began teaching in turned out to be a “Title 1” area which basically is a government classification meaning the average income in the district is low. I would soon begin to notice missing pieces in “the system.” By “the system” I mean we seemed to be intervening on levels that were above the initial needs of the children. In simple terms, I felt as though my students couldn’t learn long division when they were worried about more pressing issues such as stable housing, food, income, etc. I was torn. After all, I had entered this profession to be a superhero, not a teacher.  My next step was to attempt mentoring one student at a time and bettering their chances to meet and succeed at their goals. I would soon realize that one student at a time wasn’t going to change the world and I was going to change the world. I spoke with my other superhero buddy (my boss at the time) and decided that I needed more experience and knowledge about the system before I could change anything. Graduate school it was. Social work seemed like the best fit to be able to learn the system and the environment in which these problems existed. Next came my decision to enter the Public Health program. Public health seemed to align with the person in environment thinking I realized was so crucial, but to also compliment that thinking with problem identification and solving. Social work alone was going to allow me to continue being that superhero, just in a larger capacity, but public health would help me identify the problems in the system and develop programs to help alleviate them! So in my last year of graduate school, in addition to my school work, I’ll also be working on sewing my cape. :)

Visit Ms. Miller’s LinkedIn Profile.