Student Highlight: Kathryn Casello - Learning to Lead to Create Change
BSW Student Kathryn Casello attended a meeting in the fall of 2016 to learn about organizing against legislation that allows for open and concealed carry of guns on college campuses. For her, the issue was of personal concern. “My freshman year,” Casello explained, “I almost lost two friends to gun violence, and the following summer my ex-boyfriend was killed.” Believing strongly about the issue, as a matter of protecting students on campus, Casello applied for the position of policy director for The Campaign to Keep Guns Off Campus at FSU (The Campaign). She successfully lobbied against several campus-carry bills during the 2017 Legislative Session in the spring.
“The Campaign has given me a chance to organize around an issue that is important to me personally as well as politically,” Casello said. She also stressed that for a majority of students, there is a personal connection to the issue of gun violence, that goes beyond mass shootings to include suicide, community conflict, and police brutality that get exacerbated by gun violence.
As the current Political Affairs Director for The Campaign, Casello organized FSU students and thousands of other students to join the Parkland shooting victims at the Florida Capitol on February 21st for a rally demanding gun control legislation. What she saw at this time was real hope for a solution and receptivity for real dialogue. “Gun law reform has always been polarizing, and until recently, there was an aversion to having solution-based discussions. After the shooting in Parkland, people got involved in grassroots activism,” she said.
What Casello hopes for is a continuation of student and youth activism in their political process to make sure their voices are heard and represented, not just on the topics of gun control and campus-carry legislation. As the political affairs director for the Florida College Democrats State Federation, she hopes that the connections built during the rally at the Florida Capitol will lead to better organization and united efforts from young Americans.
“Students must engage in activism because we represent the biggest voting bloc in America. We have political power, and we need to use it. We are uniquely educated and equipped to discuss the issues that matter to us,” Cavello stressed. “Students sometimes feel getting involved in politics is difficult, but I suggest using social media to find events. Follow organizations like the League of Women Voters and the Student Power Network who often post what important bills are being heard and how to get involved.”
She knows first-hand the challenges of getting involved in a new community among new people. Her family moved to Anchorage, Alaska when she was in high school because her father was active duty Air Force. With the help of her mother, Casello became involved in mental health advocacy. She started a youth suicide prevention program to raise awareness and taught prevention classes. She also served as a youth representative on Alaska’s Statewide Suicide Prevention Council and lobbied at the Alaska State Capitol. Through these experiences, she met many social workers who were instrumental in supporting survivors of suicide and held immense expertise in the mental health field. Inspired by their work.
“I was inspired by their work, and knew I had found my calling,” she remembered. Casello is double majoring in social work and political science. She is an active member of the FSU Association of Student Social Workers and represented the College of Social Work in the FSU Student Senate. She has made the most of her opportunities and time on campus, also serving as the youngest member of the American Civil Liberties Union of Florida Board of Directors, and conducting research with social work professor Dr. Stephen Triopodi on criminal justice reform and trauma-informed rehabilitation.
She encourages everyone at FSU to follow the FSU College of Social Work and FSU Association of Student Social Workers on Facebook and to keep an eye out for an upcoming Gun Violence Panel the ASSW is organizing, bringing together experts and survivors to discuss the issue.