I interviewed Monica Smith from Joliet, Illinois. She is employed as a social worker at Joliet Central High School which is the sister school of the high school I attended. This high school’s population consists of over 3,000 students. Majority are low-income and even a small portion is considered homeless. Over half of the students identify as Hispanic and about a quarter identify as African American. As a school social worker, Monica works in the Special Education department where she tends to the emotional, social, and academic needs of individual students. She aids in their “Individualized Educational Plan (IEP)” which involves goal setting and progress monitoring. She works alongside teachers, another social worker, a psychologist, speech
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Not only is it time consuming, but it can be emotionally challenging. Sometimes there is not much else you can do to help a student in need which can be tough for both the staff and the student’s family. Additionally, I always imagined social workers as helping the homeless on the streets and always advocating for change but never really seeing any national results. However, Monica showed me that you can touch the life of just one person that needs help and it can make a world of difference. Being a social worker does not necessarily mean you have to change legislation or global issues like poverty or violence. Being a social worker means providing all the assistance possible and just making yourself available to those asking. Furthermore, I learned that social work in schools is a lot different than I was expecting. I am not entirely sure what I imagined, however, I know interviewing Monica enlightened me on all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. To be honest, I did not even know my school had a social worker, I thought we just had a bunch of counselors. It is also interesting to think about the fact that social workers at different schools will do a variety of things differently. I am almost positive that a social worker at a private school that consists of upper-class families does not advocate for low-income families the way Monica does. However, that is not to say that there cannot be issues at that school. Overall, it is fascinating to see the various routes one can take when studying and working as a social worker. This interview definitely opened my eyes to the educational department as a potential workplace in my future as a social
Not only is it time consuming, but it can be emotionally challenging. Sometimes there is not much else you can do to help a student in need which can be tough for both the staff and the student’s family. Additionally, I always imagined social workers as helping the homeless on the streets and always advocating for change but never really seeing any national results. However, Monica showed me that you can touch the life of just one person that needs help and it can make a world of difference. Being a social worker does not necessarily mean you have to change legislation or global issues like poverty or violence. Being a social worker means providing all the assistance possible and just making yourself available to those asking. Furthermore, I learned that social work in schools is a lot different than I was expecting. I am not entirely sure what I imagined, however, I know interviewing Monica enlightened me on all the hard work that goes on behind the scenes. To be honest, I did not even know my school had a social worker, I thought we just had a bunch of counselors. It is also interesting to think about the fact that social workers at different schools will do a variety of things differently. I am almost positive that a social worker at a private school that consists of upper-class families does not advocate for low-income families the way Monica does. However, that is not to say that there cannot be issues at that school. Overall, it is fascinating to see the various routes one can take when studying and working as a social worker. This interview definitely opened my eyes to the educational department as a potential workplace in my future as a social