I graduated from high school with the desire to heal hurting communities. I did not know where to start, but I thought teaching little children would possibly give me the greatest long term impact. I believed that I could help the little ones to grow up to become change agents.
I remembered the impact that many of my elementary school teachers had on me and decided that I wanted to do that for other children. I entered college excited about my plan and had great intentions to execute it fully. During my second year of college, I was starting to take classes in my major and one of them required me to do a set number of hours observing a classroom. Fortunately for me, I was assigned to what I thought was my dream job. I was to observe a first grade teacher in an inner city elementary school. This sounded so exciting to me. However, when I completed my first day of observation, I found myself feeling sad and out of place. It occurred to me that this was not my calling at all. I was so distracted by the needs of the children that affected their ability to sit and participate in the educational process. I realized that I still had much soul searching to do. At this time, I began to search myself and my experiences for my true calling and passion. I remembered the previous summer when I was a 19-year-old summer camp counselor and I was assigned to work with a group of teenage boys who ranged in age from 14-17. I did not believe that I had anything to offer them. My supervisor, an MSW, sat me down and told me that he believed in me and believed that I could create an opportunity for the youth that I was serving that they would want to be a part of. I accepted the challenge. I was still searching my soul as another semester passed. I decided to start looking at different job possibilities and landed on social work positions that required the MSW. I also remembered the supervisor who empowered me to empower others. I admired that he believed in me. I admired that he believed that I was capable of creating something new, trusting me with such a great task. The research paired with my experiences led to my discovery that this, social work, is the work that I was created to do. It has all come full circle. Today I am a school social worker. I am serving in the realm of education, but as a social worker. Through this work, I am still doing my part to heal hurting communities.
|
