Join us in celebrating this year’s Honorees.
These outstanding graduates have been selected and recognized for their exceptional academic achievements and service to the profession, department, and community.
Graduate Student Award for Distinguished Achievement Recipients
Cassidy Hall is an exceptional candidate for the 2025 Graduate Distinguished Achievement Award, showcasing significant contributions to both his cohort and the field of social work.
Cassidy Hall will graduate with an MSW with a concentration of Individuals, Families and Groups. His dedication to the field is reflected in his well-crafted, thought-provoking master’s thesis on effective allyship—a powerful meta-synthesis that delves into the complexities of allyship for individuals with marginalized identities. This work examines what makes allyship effective and appropriate, with Cassidy guiding these important conversations with vulnerability, humility, and an insatiable curiosity. His openness, warmth, and deep empathy demonstrate his unwavering commitment to the core values of social work and highlight his potential to be a transformative force in the field.
Respected by both professors and peers, Cassidy enriches class discussions with critical analyses of issues, such as decolonized approaches to social work, the systems that perpetuate structural oppression, and how to thoughtfully and intentionally disrupt these systems. His questions spark meaningful dialogue, advancing the understanding of these complex topics. Beyond academics, Cassidy has created a comprehensive shared resource list to foster connections between peers and local resources, including books, podcasts, videos, and links to organizations advocating for social work causes. His contributions go far beyond traditional educational materials. Cassidy's deep involvement in grassroots initiatives to create positive social change further reflects the essence of social work. Cassidy bridges the gap between his peers’ aspirations and tangible action, empowering them to transform their desires for change into meaningful initiatives.
His unwavering support for his peers and colleagues, coupled with his steadfast dedication to social justice, makes him an undeniably deserving recipient of this prestigious award.
Bertha Osorno’s culminating experience examined the challenges faced by Central American immigrant men in the Bay Area, focusing on their border-crossing experiences and the resulting mental health impacts. Through analytic frameworks and critical qualitative analysis, she provided valuable insights into this group's struggles. Beyond her academic achievements, Bertha demonstrates exceptional leadership as Vice President of the Phi Alpha Honor Society Mu Beta Chapter and is deeply committed to supporting low-income immigrant families in navigating resources across the Bay Area.
Undergraduate Departmental Honoree and Hood Recipient
Belayneh Salilew was selected as the SF State College of Health and Social Sciences Undergraduate Hood Recipient and the School of Social Work Undergraduate Departmental Honoree. He is also the Undergraduate commencement speaker at the ceremony on Friday, May 23, at Oracle Park. He will be the second BASW student to be the commencement speaker for undergraduate students. Belayneh’s social work journey was shaped by his transnational social justice and human rights work and volunteer experiences in Ethiopia, where he was born and raised, and the Bay Area, where he currently lives. As a high school student in Ethiopia, Belayneh was a youth mentor and youth health awareness advocate with SOS Children’s Village running awareness-raising programs on HIV/AIDS, and volunteered for programs for orphans and older adults. Belayneh also started One Person for One Orphan, a program under Borderless Charity Association, a local organization in Ethiopia with initiatives across various regional states and overseas. In recent years, Belayneh worked as a residential specialist at a foster youth organization in the Bay Area and as a service specialist at Momentum for Health, a non-profit agency providing mental health and substance use rehabilitation.
Belayneh joined the BASW program in Fall 2023 as a transfer student from San José State University and De Anza College. As a BASW student, Belayneh has been actively involved both on-campus and in the community. He currently serves as president of Phi Alpha Honor Society, Mu Beta Chapter.
Belayneh has been highly engaged in policy advocacy efforts. As a Willie L. Brown, Jr. Fellow last Fall 2024, he was placed at the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, where he conducted secondary research by analyzing and synthesizing existing data and literature on unhoused youth to help inform the department’s strategic goals. Last Spring 2024, Belayneh participated in NASW Legislative Lobby Days in Sacramento advocating for bills on the social determinants of health, reproductive health of incarcerated persons, the CARE Court Scholarship Program Act. At this year’s Lobby Days, Belayneh will lead a legislative team in lobbying for bills addressing NASW CA’s priority issues. Belayneh’s achievements have also been recognized by the San Francisco Foundation which awarded him the SFF Black Excellence Scholarship in Fall 2024.
Belayneh is currently developing a capstone project on youth homelessness in San Francisco examining why some youth choose to stay on the streets rather than use available shelters. After graduating with a B.A. in Social Work, Belayneh hopes to pursue an MSW soon after and become a licensed social worker making an impact on the world through both micro and macro social work practice.