School of Social Work: A Year of Gratitude

If there is one thing I have learned in this beautiful building from some very smart people, it's that nothing can be taken for granted; information, people, what you read, what you see...none of it.  Everything has the potential to influence, and that influence can fall anywhere on the spectrum from good to bad.  I am learning about how everything can be a catalyst, and I choose how to handle that catalyst, and what to do with it.  And so do you. 

I am grateful for so many things about this year...and I want to share them with you...despite the fact that I still have a little less than 2 weeks to go in the semester (but all graded work is in....soooo it feels like it's over....)

#206: The people! Some of my colleagues have taught me more about my profession than I could have ever gotten from a book.  Not only that, but they have supported, encouraged, and challenged me in so many ways.  And they've been there for a beer when I really needed it..
#207: The professors!  Never have I encountered such a supportive teaching staff.  My professors have intelligence and clinical know-how like I had not encountered before....and yet they are also more available to their students than you could believe.  I am so grateful for their assistance in my education!
#208: The classes!  In undergrad, even if I enjoyed my classes, I still had to force myself to go.  So many people, so many classes, and so little impact on what I felt I wanted to do in the future.  Now, I like my classes (relative, of course).  I like my classmates.  And I like what I'm learning.  It is not only based in research/scientific evidence, but it is also practical and clinically minded. 
#209: The environment! I simply love the environment in which I learn.  The small classes, the comfy basement, and definitely the fact that I don't have classes all over campus.
#210: My placement! I can't communicate how much I have learned from my placement this year.  It has been rewarding, challenging, difficult, frustrating, and incredibly eye opening.  My supervisors have been great, and what I have learned from this experience has been indescribable.