NATCHITOCHES – For Jensen and Audrey LaFosse, attending Northwestern State University has become a shared experience.
Jensen, an NSU graduate who returned to pursue a Master of Social Work, is completing her first semester in the program while her daughter Audrey begins her freshman year as a social work major.
The Natchitoches mother and daughter are also continuing a family connection to NSU. Jensen’s parents graduated from NSU, and Jensen earned her bachelor’s degree from the university in 2009 after graduating from Natchitoches Central High School in 2004.
“My story, I think, is unique because I am here with my daughter, who is also a freshman in the social work program,” Jensen said. “I chose NSU because my family has a long history here. My parents both graduated from NSU, I live here in Natchitoches, so of course NSU was my first choice.”
Now, Jensen and Audrey are experiencing different stages of college at the same time. Jensen said the two took first-day-of-school pictures together and often sit down to work on assignments alongside each other.
“It’s been really fun being at NSU as a mom and daughter,” Jensen said. “We took our first day of school pictures together, and we get to sit and do homework together.”
Their shared experience also allows them to help each other. Jensen said she can pass along what she is learning while Audrey has helped her navigate technology as an online graduate student.
“It’s been really cool to watch her grow in her college experience and then be able to pass on knowledge that I am experiencing at the same time,” Jensen said. “She has helped me a lot through the technology part and being an online student, so it’s really cool that we’re doing it together.”
Audrey said studying the same subject gives her a look ahead at experiences she expects to encounter as she progresses through the social work program. Jensen is completing an internship, while Audrey expects to complete internships during her junior and senior years.
“Being in the same program is fun because she has some professors that I also have,” Audrey said. “I’ll have to do an internship my junior and senior year, and she is doing her internship right now, so it’s been really fun.”
Audrey, who expects to graduate in 2030, said attending NSU also gives her an opportunity to continue a connection shared by three generations of her family.
“It just means a lot,” Audrey said. “Knowing that my grandpa and my grandma and then my mom all went here, it just feels like something that has been passed down to me and something that I want to work to complete the same way that they did.”
For more information about NSU’s Social Work program, visit nsula.edu/social-work.