Currently twenty years old, I was born and raised in Queens, New York. My ethnic background is Guyanese and I encourage others to learn about the West Indies since not many people are familiar with this culture. Previously I attended Thomas A. Edison High School and became certified in Microsoft Office 2007 Access and PowerPoint. At the moment I attend New York City College of Technology (CUNY) pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Human Services. I would like to attain my Master’s Degree in Social Work at Hunter College. I work at Aeropostale located in Greenacres Mall, Long Island. There, I engage in customer service and this also enhances my public speaking and communication skills. I also work in the City Tech Atrium Learning Center where I am a Computer Tutor practicing my technological skills.

For many years I always thought about the human services profession, because I like to help people, but I was not entirely sure about it. As I did my research, I learned that there are so many aspects to being a social worker than just helping others. From the age of fourteen, I have been working with children in daycarewho were under five. These children were in unfortunate situations; I learnt how the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) workers and the Health Department of New York City provide for these children to help better their lives. I knew that I could do the same when I attained my degree and possibly even more such as becoming an effective manager. Where children are concerned, our future is at stake and we must always work toward betterment.

To become a social worker, an individual must have professional and personal strengths. Since children are my main focus in this field, I have had experience learning about how they think and interact with others. For example, taking a Child Psychology course has taught me how to understand why and how children act the way they do. This makes me different from the next person because from what I surveyed, not many students in the class liked the subject as much as I did. I know how to speak to children in ways they could explain to me what is wrong or how they feel about a certain situation. This will help me to understand how to assess the issues the child is currently experiencing. My personal strengths include empathy and the ability to move past difficult scenarios. My family and I have had to face issues that were hard to deal with including near death experiences and watching a family member suffer from illness. This has helped me to become a stronger person by being able to take some time to grieve, accept, and move on.

The client population I would like to work with is children under the age of twelve. I have been working with them in daycare settings and this was where I got the chance to learn how children think. I have already learned that children will definitely benefit our future and it’s up to us to guide them on a successful path. At this young age, children develop their moral values and attitudes by observing adults and the significant people in their lives. Not many children in daycare were granted a positive lifestyle therefore, at that point, I will be able to step in and expose them to positive influences. Many of the families of these children had problems in living. I have begun to develop rapport and relationship building skills along with assessment skills. If I were a social worker, I would have had the ability to show the parents how and where to apply for help and counseling. It was necessary for some of these families to change their lifestyle habits. For example, parents that indulge in drug use hurt their child’s health and mental abilities.

I hope to attain a Master’s Degree in Social Work in about three years. Then I would like to work closely with an agency to gain as much experience as possible. I also want to open a nonprofit daycare to teach children who are less fortunate. Later on in life, my dream job would be to work for the Health Department of New York City to inspect Child Care Centers and make sure children are getting the necessary daily nourishment, shelter, and education.

Consequently, I am very enthusiastic about starting my internship and gaining practical knowledge needed for this field. I want to gain experiences from the many different cases of youth that I would like to work with. There are different approaches and theories used for the various personalities and cultures of people; I would like to be a part of these cases and learn how to counsel them from many perspectives. This will be the most important part in guiding me to find the appropriate job to help children with problems in living.