A 2011 Kean University graduate of the business management program, Marni McSween-Farmer is back at Kean University en route to pursuing the physician assistant program.
Currently she is taking her science pre-requisite classes so she can get accepted into Kean University's physician assistant program, which would begin in May of 2017.
After working in finance and insurance for a long time, her career interests changed in response to the health of several of her family members.
"I had a lot of family things going on, like my brother-in-law had cancer, my mother had cancer, just a lot of family with medical problems," Farmer said, "and through going through that I felt this need to want to get into the medical profession, and so I decided to check it out. I looked into it and it sounded really good and that's where I'm at now."
Farmer began volunteering as a requirement to be involved in the community for the program she was a part of. As she started volunteering, she began to feel passionately about how she was spending her time to help others.
"When I actually started doing the projects I was like this is good. I enjoy it, I like meeting new people, I like helping as well and you feel good about it," Farmer said. "It's not just something that you have to do, it's something that you want to be able to do."
Some of Farmer's favorite volunteering experiences have been for Habitat for Humanity and the food banks.
Last semester through Habitat for Humanity she worked on a street of five houses in a row that would be given to families in need. She worked alongside of the families who would receive the houses once they were finished. At the end of the construction stage, there was a dedication to the five families who would call these houses their homes.
"Me and my family actually went up there so we got to see the families cut the ribbons and it was good to see who actually was going to live in the houses that were built," Farmer said.
Farmer feels that a bonus for partaking in the Habitat for Humanity projects is that volunteers are learning valuable skills they can apply to their own life.
"I have a house and I have stuff breaking in my house all the time, so it's good to learn a skill," Farmer said. "We're putting in insulation and using power tools, so they teach you that as well while you're volunteering."
The active volunteer also enjoys the Mobile Food Bank volunteering opportunities since it gives her the opportunity to actually meet the people she is helping.
"I like that one as well because you get to meet different families, and they're always very nice and very grateful and appreciate the help that we're giving them," Farmer said.
Farmer not only volunteers through the opportunities offered by Kean University, but she also spends many hours of her own time volunteering around the tri-state area. She is a Project Coordinator for Jersey Cares, which is a volunteer organization that allows people to go online and choose programs to volunteer at.
She has experience volunteering at senior centers, helping and reading to them. She also commutes from Matawan to volunteer at an HIV and Aids clinic in a Bronx hospital. There, she is able to meet people with the disease and learn about their journey. Her job is to help them with their medication to maintain their health and ultimately provide the much needed support for them.
A volunteering experience that she has not been a part of yet, but would like to become involved in, is one where volunteers can work with children and help them with their homework. She does not get to try this type of service event because the hours that they run usually conflict with her schedule.
So far this semester, she has participated in two service events through Kean University.
Her passion for helping others is very evident and that, along with her ability to balance a busy schedule is nothing less than inspirational.
