Photo: My family and me on Move-In Day, 2017
When coming to college, most people have a vague idea (or no idea) of what they want to do. In August, I wasn't exactly sure of what I wanted to do, which was the case for a lot of my other classmates as well. Our teacher gave us an assignment with brief general questions about what we wanted to do with our lives. Although, seemingly boring, the assignment helped me clear up a few things for myself and helped me understand the path I wanted to take in order to be successful in college. Now that I'm looking back at my paper, I've definitely achieved my goals and I'm grateful for the opportunity. Here are some of my responses.
What major did you choose and why?
I chose Social Work as my intended major because I had a rough childhood growing up. There were a lot of things going on that shouldn't have happened. I wish someone would've seen the signs and decided to intervene; I want to give someone else the help that I should've had.
Where do you want to work?
I specifically want to work in Public Welfare: What I like about Public Welfare is that there’s so much to do. You can be in big departments like the Department of Human Services or you can be hired by a smaller company. I also like the loan forgiveness that comes with working for public sectors. Private sectors are more competitive, but public agencies also offer a huge amount of benefits. In public sectors, you’re already connected to so many things because you’re affiliated with the government. This is good for me because I honestly think that resources are the key to everything, and since places like DHS are huge places to receive information and help, I feel like I would be of better use to my clients. My perception could be used to help determine which course of action/program is needed for my client to achieve their goals. Case management is a lot by itself. You have to visit your clients and write reports in a timely fashion. You have to notice what’s changed in your client since your last visit and/ or what’s working for them. I’m very good at planning, setting goals/ criteria and meeting them. You also need to be responsible for yourself and the agreed arrangement for you and your client to meet/talk/etc. Policy Development would also be good for me. Finding out what people need, what's already available and making that work for the target community/client sounds very appealing to me. You have to be realistic and take your time thinking about alternatives, renovations, and creations of programs. You also need to know where to get funding. You also have to be monitored in Public Welfare. You have a Supervisor who looks after you and checks behind you to make sure that everything is okay. It’s easier to be consistent if someone is checking up on you. That makes me feel better because if I ever miss something, there’ll be someone checking up on me. Also, learning government agencies/policies, volunteering at soup kitchens and literacy groups are some of the things that I do already, so why not start my career off by doing something that I like.
Goals?
I made it into my top 3 in High School, I want to be at something similar to that here at college.
I’ve learned that the ‘ranking’ in college isn’t the same way that it’s in high school. Since then, I’ve started to measure my success in personal successes rather than the idea of ‘ranking’ myself above another. The problem with ‘ranking’ in high school is that it forced me to do all that I could do in order to be at the top. If I lost my place then I felt horrible. Instead of measuring myself against others, I set goals for myself. I achieve these goals by planning days on my calendar to do certain things. I try to do all my work a week before it's done. I stay in the library until midnight every day. I watch videos and take pre-test and practice quizzes to make sure I understand the material. I’ve also started reviewing my notes, a lot more since finals will be here soon. By doing this, I’m preparing myself to do the best to my own ability. I feel like if I continue to do this I will create better opportunities for myself. Scholarships and internships are always looking for people who are willing to work.