Krista C. McGuire

Master of Social Work Student

After four years at UNC, my first year serving as a College Adviser in a historically black high school was full of adjustments. Initially I was shaken by seeing students escorted out in handcuffs. I was startled by explosive displays of violence. I was prepared for students to ask me what they should wear to an interview but I never imagined I’d be asked what to wear to a court appearance. I was privy to organic conversations where students were sharing with each other how their parents were taken by gun violence. My students carried so much with them to school day-in and day-out. I quickly realized that bigger than my job description of creating a college going culture, I had to create a high school going culture which meant working with counselors and social workers to help students navigate depression, hunger, trauma, homelessness and a host of other barriers.

Working in this Title I high school for three years stayed my interest in generational trauma. Not only how it flows through families but how it flows through and affects entire communities. I wonder what an effective intervention model that uses schools as the point of entry to facilitate intentional broader community healing could look like.

Research Interests: