HUS 1207 HUMAN SERVICE SEMINAR
DR.LENORE
QIAOWA HOU
Professional Essay Assignment
I am a girl who was born and raised in a small village in China. I finished junior high school before I immigrated to the USA with my family when I was 17 years old. I went to Sheepshead Bay High School as an 11th grade student because of my age. I only had two years in high school, but I had the same number of Regents to take as the 4 year students. Thus, I faced many hardships with studying. I felt helpless that all my teachers and counselors were English speakers. They tried to help me, but they didn’t have the time and patience to work with me, except for my guidance counselor who had patience and never gave up on me. Fortunately, I graduated from high school and am now attending college, studying human.
I decided to become a human service worker because I was influenced by my high school counselor, Mr.Botwinick. Even though we were from different cultures, he still worked hard to help me. He knew I had stranger anxiety, so he called someone who was speaking Chinese to help me to know the new study environment. I felt safe when I knew the environment. He found out that I was good at math, so he asked me to tutor the students who were not good at math. He did this because he wanted to build up my confidence. The only thing he was worried about was my English class. He gave me two English classes a day. During my free time, he would call me into his office and talk about my future. I saw what he was doing to help me to overcome my hardships. From him, I know what a counselor is, what kind of job it is, and how important this job is to people. I was impressed and influenced by his patience, consistency, and professionalism.
I am a person who is enthusiastic and empathic about helping people in need. When I see a person smile, I smile. Otherwise, when I see a person cry, I cry. I admit that I am an emotional person. Also I know it is the weakness of a human service worker. Thus, I am looking for a way to change this weakness to a strength. Optimism and responsibility are my strengths that will enhance my effectiveness for professional practice. I believe my optimism will lead me to think in a positive way, and my sense of responsibility will help me to build up a trusting relationship with others.
The client population I would like to work with are the primary school students from 6 to 12 years old. The skills I need to learn to professionally serve this population are to understand what they are thinking and need. How to get close to them? Which services can help them and their families? And how to solve a problem that relates to culture? I chose this population because of the summer school students in my church. It was my first time teaching in summer school. I only had six students. All of them were American- born Chinese who were eight to nine years old. Three of them had ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and anti- social behavior but their parents didn’t know or they didn’t care because in Chinese culture ADHD is not regarded as a condition. The students were uncontrollable and ignored me because I was a new teacher there. It was very hard to teach them because I really didn’t know what was in their mind and what they needed. I tried to be nice to get close to them. But they treated me like I was their friend and they did not listen to me. Maybe getting close to them was a mistake as a teacher. I needed to talk to their parents about their children’s problem, but I didn’t. Because I knew even though we were from the same culture, there was some different thinking between my generation and theirs. I was so sad that I didn’t know how to help them.
This population needs human services because they need professionals to help resolve problems. Not all problem children are cooperating during counseling. Not all parents admit their children have problems. But providing human services to children is necessary. In addition to the skills I mentioned earlier that I want to learn, the main skill that I want to learn is how to build up a helping relationship with children. I think it is the first step to help a child who needs help.
I don’t have a long-range plan from the time of graduation to ten years following, but I have a short-range plan for two years after graduation. During this time, I want to find a part time job that relates to human services to work for experience and hone my skills that I learned from school and my internship in a bilingual agency. And I will continue my study career in human services. Part time work and part time study are my life’s dream.
Human services is not a job that earns a lot of money, but it is a meaningful job in our society. It uses professional skills to help people who need help. I am thankful for my high school counselor, Mr. Botwinick, who had influenced me. I am thankful for my summer school principal who gave me a chance to get close to children. Even though I don’t have any clear long-range plan for my future, I am happy that I chose this major.
