PROFESSIONAL ESSAY Toggle navigation

Anwar Hussain
HUS 1207
Professional Essay

My name is Anwar Hussain and I was born in Yemen and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I came to the United States at the age of two and I have not left since. Coming from a Middle Eastern family I was always taught a different culture with different beliefs from what I have learned from school. In third grade my parents decided to put me in an Islamic Private School. Throughout elementary until high school I have only attended a Muslim School. When I graduated I decided to apply for New York City College of Technology. It is my third year and I am majoring in Human Services for my bachelors. The degree I want to pursue is my masters in Human Services.
I never thought I would major in Human Service. I sometimes feel like fate just pulled me into it. At first my major was nursing. Growing up I did not even know what Human Service was. In high school, our school had a counselor for half a year, and she was a health teacher. They never hired a professional counselor. Muslims/Arabs do not believe in counselors or receiving and seeking help. For the period of time where we had the counselor I would always love staying in her office. My senior year my English teacher asked the class to write a paper and on the top of my paper he wrote a note telling me to check the Human Service department. I never looked into Human Services because I just never thought it was something I would do. My grandmother suffers from schizophrenia and she has always lived with my family. I witnessed the moment she was first diagnosed to the illness and how it affected her and my family. Living with a schizophrenic is difficult and my parents will never send her to a nursing home. Growing up I would always take care of my grandmother from giving her meals and medicine to changing her sheets and diapers. After taking all my pre-required courses in nursing I decided to change my major to Liberal Arts and Science. I did not want to be a nurse. I was afraid of seeing people get hurt and I would faint at the sight of blood. I knew deep down in my heart it was not something I would be able to do for the rest of my life. I decided to take an introduction to Human Service my third year and I loved it. I did not even have to think about it; at that moment I changed my major completely. I love to help others and to be able to take a burden off of someone’s shoulder is a blessing. To be able to do good for others is what I want to do for a living and I am also a strong believer in good karma.
I am a great listener and always try to give people a chance to talk. I am a very social person and I love to learn new things from different cultures and different people. I am not ignorant at all and I am not afraid to ask questions when I need to. I always try to view situations in the person’s perspective instead of my own. Coming from a strict culture of my own I understand how important someone’s beliefs and values can be. I try my hardest not to judge because each individual has their own reasons. I am bilingual, since I speak fluent Arabic and English. I always look up to my father and he has taught me to always be the first to give and last to take. My dad always made sure I was polite and friendly and never disrespectful. I know I can be an effective human service worker; I just feel it.
The population I would like to work with is children. I would like to work with children who have disability or mental problems. Children are the most vulnerable population, they are defenseless and the most curious. Children always want to learn and discover new things. I work best with children due to the fact that I am the eldest of seven. Children are a blessing, and they are fun and innocent. An important skill I would need to learn is patience. I rarely have patience and I would need to work hard on it. I also need to learn techniques on how to help children who suffer from illnesses. Growing up, my cousin’s daughter was mentally ill as well as disabled. After school, I would always just sit and talk to her. Even though she probably could not understand me, my voice will always make her smile. She passed away a few months ago and I was heartbroken. Since then, I knew I wanted to specialize in children who suffer from mental illnesses. Children need a whole lot of care and time. They also need many Human Service needs such as counseling for their families and insurance. A skill I gained is empathy. Knowing what my cousin went through and seeing how hard situations become I can always relate. I am a lot more patient then how I used to be. I learned to treat individuals as a whole person and not a number. Human Service courses have taught me ways to break barriers in order to help an individual.
I honestly do not envision my career path after graduation to ten years. I do not have plans because every time I do, it never works out. I just take what I am given and try to make the best of it. All I know is that I want to specialize in children with mental disabilities. So I envision myself in that position. I would also want to do some counseling. I like giving advice, and I would not mind counseling adolescents. I know in order to become a successful Human Service Professional; I must always follow the code of ethics. As for now I do not have a vision but hopefully I will by the end of graduate school.
Human Service is what I want to do for the rest of my life. I will try my hardest to be the best in my profession and be good at what I decide to do. As long as I can make a little difference in someone’s life, it will make me happy. Doing well in all my classes and being a great intern are all short term goals to achieve my distal goal. My distal goal is to be a successful Human Service Professional. I never thought I would be able to do what I like and make it my career. Changing my major has changed my perspective on life as well. I will always try my hardest to help others and do the little things that can help make this world a better place.