Inside Out Scholarship Essay

Social work is a career that finds and chooses you, rather than you selecting it. Social work has always been an immense portion of my life even when I had no recollection of what social work entailed. My life revolved around so many situations that had a social worker stepped in, my life would be totally different than it is today. Many individuals and agencies lack the compassion and empathy for oppressed people. Having been in many circumstances, has given me the experience and background that influenced me to go into social work, as well as the understanding of my role and responsibilities that I will assume as a professional social worker, and my reasons for selecting the program at ASU School of Social Work and thoughts on how the Mission Statement addresses my career goals.

Social work is a career that I have always been interested in, especially working with children and families. Helping people overcome obstacles and making the most of themselves is a very rewarding and yet a challenging career. I’ll have the chance to meet a variety of different people with different problems from cases of abuse and neglect as well as supporting those in the care system. I am particularly interested in working with children and families who often form the most vulnerable service users, developing a professional and trusting relationship with them, hopefully enabling them to participate fully in society.

My father is going to retire in some years and my mother is a house wife. They both have invested in their house heavily therefore these reasons might affect my family’s ability to fund my college tuition.

Like most young boys I grew up idolizing sport heroes, racing kids on the playground, and playing sports outside. My teams were the Cowboys, the Astros, and later on in life the Aggies. Consequentially, if you didn’t love Jeff Bagwell and Craig Biggio than I didn’t really like you. Although most of these decisions were made based upon my brother’s sport interest, I learned to love them in my own way. After all, my brother was the one who I played basketball with, threw the football and baseball with, and eventually the one who inspired my love for A&M and the Aggies. For all my life I can remember wanting to play sports and wanting to watch sports, but around 7th grade when my brother moved off to A&M is when I really started getting the sports bug. Visiting for home games, standing in the

I entered UNO as a graduate student a little over two years ago, having just finished a degree in history from an online school. I went to that online school, because my life took a few turns I did not expect when I turned eighteen in 1998. Back then, I left for Iowa State University on a full academic scholarship. I was convinced that I would study computer science and do something with computers for the rest of my life. Two years later, my scholarship was gone and my interest in Computer Science with it.

Social work involves passionate individuals who are dedicated to helping others by providing services to vulnerable children, families or individuals in need, while constantly looking for ways in which we can improve society. This discipline is dedicated to helping people find solutions to their problems in order to make the world a better place. I chose this field of study, because I find the job of a social worker rewarding. I have always enjoyed helping others and knowing that I have made a difference in someone’s life. It is no secret that this is a challenging career; however, the feeling of knowing that you made the world a better place is indescribable. I have simply decided to make my passion of helping others into a career. I know that in order to make my passion a career I will need to get the best education and training possible.

Growing up, my parents stressed the importance of my education, and it has become my number one priority. I often think about my future, and what I can do to make it as successful and enjoyable as possible. Earning my degree at Michigan would be an amazing accomplishment, and I know it would allow me the opportunity for great success. I have toured many campuses across the country and have yet to encounter one that makes me feel the way I do when I’m on U of M campus. When on campus, I feel at home; I feel like I belong there.

I can say that being a social worker was never in my plans. I started from Liberal Arts, because I wasn’t decided on my career choice. I took almost all courses, when I got an advice from one of my friends to try Health Information Technology. I gave it a chance and I didn’t realize how time flied by and I graduated. My dream always was to work with children. When I graduated and took my internship, that was the time, when I understood that I made the wrong choice. I needed to search for another career, because I understood, that it would not be what I meant. My father is physical therapist and he gave me and advice to think and to do some research about Social Worker. This time, I did the most research that I could, in order to not repeat my mistake again. I instantly knew, that this what I needed. All over the world, there is and will always be abuse. That’s the reality of it, but now I’m studying for Social Worker here at Lehman College, because I would like to be working toward changing a child’s reality one day, I am changing my knowledge every time I come to class, and changing my life one step at a time. I believe that it all starts with me, and while I may not be able to save the whole world, I will be able to save and help at least small part of it. I currently work in the family practice as a receptionist. My best days are those when I able to help people and provide them with all the information needed. Every day is different.

My passion for helping the vulnerable is one reason I ‘am inspired to become a social worker. I also want to be available to provide support to those who have nowhere else to turn. My experience in social work has taught me to celebrate the small victories towards positive changes. I look forward to gaining the skills and knowledge to aid me in becoming a successful social worker.

Ever since I was a young kid I have always been interested in movies. My grandma, who was full of the wise the life experience left, always knew about my interest in movies. She feed my vain for the art. Even though her religion, she professed Adventist of seven-day religion, didn't let her go to the cinema, she always found the way to took me to the cinema. She and I enjoyed watch movies. We used to sit in the darkness room, with our faces illuminated from the reflection of the light which rebooted from the screen, both absorbs in the plot of the movie which made us laughed or cried. After the movie, while we went back to her home, she started to talk about the movie. She had a particular point of view where the main story

I was in grade 10 when I thought of becoming a social worker. As social worker practitioner the fields that interest me to work in is domestic violence and child abuse because I want to make change to the society. Also Mahatma Gandhi was my major inspiration through this quote “Be the change that you wish to see in the world”. Than an idea came to me, why not involve my contribution to the wide variety of communities. My communication with school counsellors and social workers has impacted my choice of desiring to study social work. I realised that if I have had a chance of seeing a social worker when I was young, things would have been much easier and less stressful. I want to provide opportunities that I did not encounter to other people. This essay will reflect my past experience, motivation and why I want to be a social worker, values, beliefs and theory of practice.

After I gained some practical experience in social work, I wanted to excel my knowledge so decided to pursue my Master’s degree. Social work, today, now isn't just confined within societal factors and uplifting people. It goes way beyond this. It is rather a holistic approach, the one that comprises the multifold thematic areas like social entrepreneurship, community ownership and empowerment. There is a Chinese proverb “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime” and social work is about teaching a man to fish so s/he does not have to beg a single day in life for living. For me studying social work is to become someone who can teach people to earn for their living, help them get their every right, be a voice for those who are vulnerable and make people strong enough to stand against the injustice they face and for that I know I need to study more, learn

Entry 1 On this module you have explored what might have led you to join the social work profession. Why is it important to think about your motivations for becoming social workers and how might this affect the way you practice? Why is self-awareness important in social work practice? Given your own unique background, what areas of social work might you find challenging and why?

Attach an essay explaining your outstanding loyalty and service to your school, community and family. Include how your future plans will involve service to others.

Student social workers must draw from their knowledge, values and skills within the learning process because these are the factors that make up the ‘self.’ According to Ward, “the self is our primary tool of practice – it is the means through which we experience and conduct our practice.” Therefore, this concept combines our personality and identity, including our knowledge, values and skills which affect the way in which we respond to service users. Social work is a relationship-based role and consequently, it will make demands on the ‘self’ of the social worker which is why it is important to develop an awareness about ourselves. Hochschild calls social work “emotional labour” on the grounds that social work practice requires experiencing a range of emotions that is not typical of other professions. The ‘self’ is important in this respect because we need to be able to understand why we respond in a specific way to provide the appropriate help for the service user. In addition, it will also allow us to disconnect from such emotions at the end of the working day and continue with our private lives. Due to this large emotional context in social work, it is a profession that is more concerned with the relationship one has with a service user. In this way, relationship-based practice links both emotional intelligence and use of the ‘self.’