![\"Favorite](\"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/08\/Favorite-pic-of-me.jpg\")
A graduate of Hillcrest High School in Dallas, Kim received her bachelor\u2019s degree from Texas Woman\u2019s University and began a case management career that spanned more than two decades. A changing employment landscape led her to research higher education. Tarleton\u2019s accelerated time frame and low student-to-teacher ratio sealed the deal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy kiddos were making more than I was,\u201d she said, laughing. \u201cSomething about that wasn\u2019t right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow with my master\u2019s I have opportunities to be a coordinator or a director. I have experience with victim advocacy, as an eligibility specialist, making home visits, and I\u2019ve taught and worked with stakeholders to get kids positions with hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A Garland resident, Kim followed her husband during his 21 years in the Army. While also building her r\u00e9sum\u00e9, she put into practice her zeal for service work by volunteering in church and community efforts at each duty station.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She continued to work full time the first year of her master\u2019s studies, but the rigors of class and associated activities pushed her energies completely to her education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThat second year, my husband said, \u2018You\u2019re going to have to stop this madness.\u2019 So the last year I focused on my MSW. I had to do an internship, field placement and volunteer work. I focused on the program to make sure I understood the competencies, the things I had been doing my whole career that now had a name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the lessons she learned became very clear during her internship at Fort Worth\u2019s Center for Transforming Lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSo many people of color, minorities, have talents but don\u2019t know how to grow those talents into a job. That\u2019s what I want people to take from my speech. To see the importance of living a life of service in a marginalized community. It\u2019s about service and taking the opportunity to give back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kim wants to use her degree to land a social work position in a hospital or school district. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe jobs I\u2019m looking at call for a year in a healthcare setting,\u201d she said, \u201cbut just get me in there and I\u2019ll do what I need to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m a smart cookie.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
STEPHENVILLE, Texas \u2014 Leaving a legacy of service fulfills Kim Mack. How she does that and why it’s important will inform her keynote speech at Tarleton State University\u2019s summer commencement …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":49398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,423,427],"tags":[430,431,439],"class_list":["post-49395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-academics-research","category-science-health","tag-academic-affairs","tag-administration","tag-division-of-health-sciences"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"priddle","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/priddle-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2-2\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2023\/08\/Favorite-pic-of-me-1.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Academics & Research<\/a>","Science & Health<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Academics & Research<\/span>","Science & Health<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","Administration<\/a>","Division of Health Sciences<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","Administration<\/span>","Division of Health Sciences<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 9, 2023","modified":"Updated on August 7, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 9, 2023 8:00 am","modified":"Updated on August 7, 2023 2:25 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"Smiling person in a light pink top.","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49395\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}