Carolina Walsh, director of Residence Life & Student Programs at Georgetown University Law Center, says her graduate education has opened many professional doors for her.
At Georgetown University, Carolina is the sexual assault and relationship violence liaison. She also oversees the Center for Wellness Promotion & Lawyers in Balance Contemplative Program there.
“Clearly, the high point in my professional life was receiving my doctoral degree,” says Carolina, who received her master’s degree in Professional Counseling from Argosy University, Washington D.C. “In my workplace at the Georgetown Law Center, I have been recognized for my efforts to establish the Lawyers in Balance seminars and for my support in recent years for an array of initiatives designed to expand health and wellness awareness and learning.”
Carolina also works in private practice as a mental health counselor at the Life Enrichment Counseling Center and is an adjunct faculty member at Argosy University, Washington D.C.
She says her Argosy University education has enhanced her career at Georgetown Law Center, where she had worked prior to enrolling in her graduate degree programs.
“Argosy helped create new opportunities at Georgetown and new directions and options in areas which I had already been engaged there,” she says. “I was able to translate Argosy instruction into new and/or better program ideas at the Law Center.”
Argosy University also led her to two part-time career paths, one in counseling and one in teaching.
“One feature of my three different pursuits that never ceases to impress me is the common threads which are present in these three roles as a result of my Argosy instruction,” Carolina says. “I believe the instruction at Argosy strikes the right balance between the theory of the academic discipline and practical applications necessary for career success.”
Carolina immigrated to the United States from Peru with her family when she was young. Not speaking English, she and her family of seven had to first endure living in a one-bedroom apartment in the Spanish Harlem area of New York City. Later as a teenager, her family moved to a middle-class neighborhood in Queens, New York, where the new challenge was dealing with discrimination.
“One never forgets incidents such as being told by the neighborhood candy store owner that I was not allowed in her store,” she says. “I felt isolated and different from other children.”
Carolina says these early experiences have had a lasting effect. “While we encountered many hurdles, in hindsight, I now view these difficult years as a blessing in my life. The collective experience built resiliency and a determination to prove myself and demonstrate to others that I was just as capable of achieving academically as they were.”
Carolina would experience more challenges in her adult years. At 39, she was a divorced mother of three children who suddenly had to care for her mother. She landed a job at the Georgetown University Law Center to support her family.
The pressures of being a single mother and sole breadwinner of her family did not deter Carolina from pursuing graduate education.
“If there is one central theme which seems to run through my life experience, it is that confrontation with adversity and challenge has often provided me with the impetus and motivation to adapt, to solve problems, and to strive for greater achievement,” she says. “It is certainly one of my goals at this point in my life to impart my story to others with a view toward helping others cope with the challenges in their own lives.”
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