Senior Spotlight: Margaret Michaletz Organizes Clothing Closet

May 4, 2023

When young people and their families experience the challenges involved when working through the justice system, they should not have to shoulder the additional burden of clothing expenses. Thanks to the work of Xavier student Margaret Michaletz, a senior social work major and an intern at the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office, this will no longer be a problem. In the interest of protecting the dignity of young defendants and easing the strain on their families, she went above and beyond.

It's fair to say that senior Margaret Michaletz has a lot on her plate. In past years at Xavier, she has served as a Manresa leader, participated in X-Change, and has been on the student advisory board for the College of Professional Sciences. She’s worked in the Cincinnati area at afterschool programs and at the Learning Grove, which is consequently how she discovered she loves working with kids. She describes empathy and care as “part of [her] nature” and in discussing her drive to do social work, she says “it’s a vocation, a calling.”

Not only is she currently completing her coursework as a full-time student to graduate this spring, but she’s also working as a nanny 20 hours a week. She credits her professor, Dr. Jaylene Schaefer, for helping her to prioritizes self-care as busy student as she prepares to be professional in a stressful field of work. Michaletz regularly ensures that she gets enough sleep and exercises five or six days a week.

As a social work major, she is in her second semester of her field work, a requirement for all senior social work majors. When she began working at Public Defender’s Office, she specifically began work within Youth Defense under the direction of Angela Chang, director of the Youth Defense Division.

The first few weeks after work, she would (in her words) “come home and disassociate” as she became more aware of their clients’ many complexities and challenges.

“There are so many systematic indifferences that led to the point… you can totally see why they’ve gotten to where they are,” Michaletz said when describing her team’s clients. “The misconception is that these are violent criminals on the street. I hang out with them, and they’re not violent. They just made a mistake. The frontal cortex of their brain—the decision-making portion of their brain—isn’t even fully formed yet. A lot of these kids make these mistakes… They have a lot of guilt, and never meant for these things to happen.”

Michaletz soon noticed that many of the clients did not have clothes that they would need for court appearances, and their families—who often struggled financially—could not always provide these young people the clothing they needed. Without prompting, Michaelitz sprang into action, and immediately began posting on social media—making Instagram posts and joining local Facebook groups to ask members for donations. Within two weeks, she was driving all over Cincinnati’s various neighborhoods picking up donated clothing.

Soon, she had enough to make for a permanent collection, made up of dresswear for all sizes and genders, housed at the Public Defender’s Office. Referring to this collection as “The Clothing Closet,” she hopes that it will continue to serve anyone who needs it well after she finishes her internship. Ideally, these clothes will serve not only as ‘borrowed’ to young people who need them for court, but also as takeaway items for individuals who have job interviews, are being released from juvenile hall, or simply need them in their daily lives.

Not surprisingly, Michaletz has been awarded this year’s senior award from the department of Social Work. In doing the real work for and with others, she is living out Xavier’s mission daily. After graduation, she plans to return to her home state of Wisconsin to continue to work with children and families as a Youth Care Coordinator. When asked for any closing thoughts on her studies and work, Michaletz referred to a quote from Bryan Stevenson that inspires her and propels her forward in the field of social work: “Each of us is more than the worst thing we've ever done.”