Orientation was yesterday. I went in pretty nervous about going back to school: would I be the only one with a bachelor's degree completely unrelated to social work? Am I really going to be able to do this program? How on earth am I going to navigate my way through my field placement? Are the clients going to trust me? (And of course, the age old question) Am I going to make new friends? I left feeling much better about all of those questions and learned most people were feeling the exact same way. The last session we had was all about self care while in school: anxieties we have, strategies to alleviate them, stress management, etc. Nice that they care!
The best session we had was an anti-racism presentation by a Fordham alum who works for an organization called The People's Institute For Survival & Beyond. It was FASCINATING. The session was an hour long but it felt like maybe 15 minutes. It wasn't enough time to talk about everything we wanted to discuss. The organization does offer weekend workshops and I'd like to take one. We watched a video called "A Girl Like Me" and wow, we all had really strong reactions. The situation that hit me the most was the very last girl participating in the doll experiment. To see her hesitating while reaching for the doll that "looks like her" right after being asked "which is the bad doll" and reaching for the exact same one was heartbreaking. Obviously, racism is still an issue. Justin, the leader of the session, brought up the point that racism is the only problem in our country we try to solve by NOT talking about it. It's true. Please take a look at this short video; it's so interesting:
Actual classes started today. I enjoyed all of them, which I actually expected since I CHOSE to be a part of this program. First class is Human Behavior and the Social Environment (pretty self explanatory), followed by a lunch break. Many times during the year we have optional "Learning Lunches" which are about varying topice. The first one coming up this year is a presentation called "Safety In The Field." Today during that time I ate with Phylicia who I met at orientation yesterday. We talked about the anxieties we still had and even though I know people keep saying everyone is feeling the same way, it's still nice to talk to someone in the same boat. After lunch was Social Justice Practice. This class I can see having some heated discussions but I think it will be a safe place for the dialogue. We all seem pretty open to hearing what each other has to say. Third up was Generalist Practice in Social Work. This course works very closely with our internships, learning material in class and putting it into practice in the field. The day ended with Social Work Research I. The professor is very passionate about social work research and though it's a class most people dread, her passion may make it pretty exciting. We're going to be split into groups and working on the same hypothesis within our groups but writing our own literature review. Never written one of those before but I'm sure I'll learn.
All in all, for never wanting to have another first day of school in 2005, the first one in 2010 was pretty good! Grad school is not going to be an easy ride by any means. As long as I continue to work hard throughout the entire year (well, two years), I should be alright. Support is always welcome though!
I love that you had a great first day! Must be nice to like all your classes because you really want to take them. I hope that one day soon, I will be like you and know what I really want to do.
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