Andrea Rayl

Andrea Rayl is an SVSU alumnae who graduated with a degree in social work. She found her love for social work while at SVSU when she went on an Alternative Spring Break Trip. She works at the Bay Arenac Behavioral Health and loves it! She gets to work with kids and her amazing coworkers, who are a great support.

Life at SVSU

Andrea started at SVSU as a communications major, but as she learned about social work through Alternative Spring Breaks, she fell in love with the field and switched her major to social work. She participated in Alternative Spring Break for all four years and was a leader for two of them. She went to Holland, Michigan, to volunteer for an arts program; DC, to volunteer for a program to eradicate homelessness; Richmond, VA to volunteer for Beds for Kids; and Kalamazoo, MI to volunteer for a local food initiative program.

Andrea loved the SVSU social work program, particularly the parts where she could interact with other students. She remembers a class she had with occupational therapy and nursing students, in which they all learned how their fields are interconnected and the best ways to work with each other in the real world.

Life Beyond SVSU

After graduating from SVSU in 2015, Andrea went to Wayne State for her master's in social work. She got lots of experience in this program and decided that she wanted to focus on working with kids. She started working at the Bay Arenac Behavioral Health as a Home Base Therapist, where she would travel to children's houses for therapy sessions. She got lots of experience by doing this and thinks it is great for newer people in the field because of all the hands-on experience you get.

Andrea is now a child intake specialist at Bay Arenac. She likes that she can see more programs and has more of an opportunity to learn about different things in this role. Andrea's favorite part about her job is her coworkers; they are a wealth of knowledge and a great support system. When not working, you can find Andrea hanging out with her husband (whom she met at SVSU!) and their one-year-old baby, or crafting with her Cricut.

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