U.S. Army veteran, Syracuse University student, and 2024 Tillman Scholar Benetta Dousuah was born in a resettlement refugee camp in Ghana, West Africa. Benetta and her family won the lottery to relocate to the United States when she was ten years old. She grew up in Newark, New Jersey.
After high school, Benetta joined the U.S. Army in 2017 where she served as a unit supply sergeant. Benetta was later stationed at Camp Humphreys, South Korea where she attended the Army Basic Leader Course and graduated as the class Honor Graduate, ranked #2 in her class of 113. She served six years on active duty and was discharged honorably from the U.S. Army in 2024.
Currently pursuing a master’s in social work at Syracuse University’s David B. Falk School of Sport and Human Dynamics, Benetta aspires to become a social worker with a focus on serving as a Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention (SHARP) representative at a behavioral health clinic on a military installation. She aims to improve the SHARP processes and investigations.
Benetta is an intern at the Watertown VA Outpatient Clinic, providing therapeutic intervention to veterans across three counties in the North Country. Previously, Benetta interned at the Syracuse University Veterans Legal Law Clinic as the inaugural recipient of the Wendy Goidel scholarship. Her internship focused on assisting veterans dealing with challenges such as homelessness, food insecurity, and disability claims. Benetta is also a member of the Social Workers United (SWU). She is currently hosting a drive to collect school supplies for children in Liberia, where seven out of ten children live in extreme poverty and lack learning materials and school supplies.
Benetta resides in Watertown, New York, with her five-year-old daughter.
