When I grow up....

It has been an ultra tough week at work.  We aren't experiencing a meeting of the minds anymore between staff members and its pretty frustrating. Additionally you can add the stress involved with working with the homeless population, and it's a recipe for disaster.  Through this week, my mind has been racing with questions of why I'm taking this path.  Why am I wanting to be involved with social work?  I know I'm not dead-ending in this job because its incredible experience and something that ultimately I will look back on and be thankful that I did.  However....I don't see myself working with the homeless as a career.  It is a smidge more than I can handle on a "forever" basis.  So, I've been forced to stop and look at the Masters program I'm wanting to get into and question what I'm doing.  I can't really afford to make another $15,000 mistake with my education...let's face it.

In thinking about it, I realize that there are a lot of paths I could take that I would be able to be comfortable in for an indefinite period of time.  I love the idea of working in a hospital setting and I love working with the elderly. All acceptable options....definitely worth considering. However, I'm discovering that no matter what path I take in my mind's eye, the real reason I want to do social work pops out.  Here it is....



This is what I want to do.  If I could lock myself into a career at this point in my life...I would do this forever.  Here's the scoop.  Upward Bound is a program that is federally funded and included under the umbrella of Trio.  Its main goal is to work with high school students who come from families that are either low-income or where neither of the parents have bachelor's degrees.  Some of the students are aging out of the foster care system, are disabled, aren't proficient in the English language, etc...  Upward Bound's goal is to help these students pursue and succeed in their education at the high school level and to pursue post-secondary education.  Rad?  I think so.  So how does it work?  They provide instruction and tutoring in the major subjects (especially in science and math), they provide counseling, mentoring, cultural enrichment, etc...and they provide a safe place and a fun place to be learning.  It also uses some of my activity and adventure side that I picked up from recreational management. 

Now, I got involved with this program as a residential assistant at a summer program that was run in Moses Lake, WA at Big Bend Community College the summer after I graduated college.  I knew going into it that I was in for a wild ride, but I had no idea what I had in store.  It ended up being such an incredible time, and one that got me fired up for this program.  I was ready to sign up for life at the end of that summer, and it hasn't faded since.  I asked a lot of questions while I was there, and discovered that you need an MSW for most of the counseling positions within Upward Bound, but at that point I had just graduated from college in something other than Social Work and the thought of graduate school almost killed my soul.  You need a little break between 18 years of education and another 2 years of grad school. 

So, I'm taking the break I needed..and now its time to put my student loans where my mouth is and make the leap.  This program makes me want to learn continually and be in the best shape intellectually to help these kids succeed.  And I can't tell you the satisfaction you get when you were even a small part of these kids succeeding in college.  Most of my students are going to be juniors in college this next year and they are making it.....so awesome.

So....there you have it.  Now...the key (as in all social service/educational programs) is to have this not be cut from the federal budget before I get a chance to get through graduate school! :) 

Ahhhh, I'm excited all over again.  I think its valuable to take some time out of your life to sit and dream....and this was a great way to start my day!

Cheers!