This year Shaler Area High School alumna Julia Bernesser was inducted into the Shaler Area Athletics Hall of Fame. Bernesser, who earned an impressive 8 combined varsity letters competing on the SA Volleyball and Track and Field Teams, was 2016 WPIAL Shot Put Champion, holds SA shot put record with a 41 ½ foot throw, and was twice named All Section in Volleyball, before going on to be a 4 years starter on Washington and Jefferson’s Volleyball Team.
Though a record-breaking track athlete and captain of the volleyball team, Bernesser saw athletics as a way to connect with and give back to others. She recalls, “During my senior year at Shaler I worked with the Backpack Initiative to facilitate and run a food drive to help stock their shelves. I was able to gather athletes from many sports at Shaler to volunteer to help run the food drive. This moment really brought together the bigger purpose behind sports and community.” Her early experiences of volunteerism charted a path for her future. Bernesser reflects, “Throughout my time in high school I volunteered to coach for the Shaler Area Middle School boys volleyball team and always had a passion for mentoring! I always knew I wanted to work with at-risk youth.”
After graduating Shaler Area High School in 2016, Bernesser earned her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and Masters Social work from the University of Pittsburgh. Bernesser now works as a Caseworker II for Allegheny County Children, Youth, and Families. “I enjoy being the light in the most trying times for people. Empathy goes a long way and is often something lost in our society. I’m honored to be a listening ear for a population that is often looked over,” she shares.
The lessons honed on the court and the field still inform her work today. Bernesser notes, “Working with troubled youth and those in foster care can be a tough challenge. Many of the young people I work with feel like the world has given up on them. They’ve faced challenges most of us can’t imagine. But the lessons I learned through sports—never quitting, showing up for others, believing in something bigger than yourself—those lessons are exactly what help me show up for them. Sports gave me the foundation to succeed, but more importantly, they gave me the foundation to give back.”
She notes that everyone can do something to support children in foster care. Bernesser explains, “When working with the foster care system there are so many more systems involved than one could imagine. When fostering you are stepping into a much larger narrative, often navigating generational trauma. Foster care children need their community which extends far beyond their foster home walls!”
Bernesser encourages everyone to meet children in foster care and their families with compassion. She shares, “Extend empathy and understanding. Foster care children often display behaviors due to the trauma they have endured, where people are asking ‘why?’ when what should be asked is ‘what happened?’ Please check out Foster Love Project and donate where you can!”
To learn more about how you can make a difference through fostering or adopting, visit the PA State Wide Adoption Network.
