Social Justice Personal Statement

When thinking about my future career, I have always known that I wanted to work with children in an educational environment; however, it was not until my junior year of undergraduate school that I decided how I was going to do it. I learned that the best way to make an impact was to work individually with the students. Growing up, I had a relatively large family, which meant that I was continuously watching my younger cousins and helping out any way that I could. Additionally, that also required me to teach and help with school and related activities. Not only was I an older cousin to look up to and rely on, but I also became a mentor for helping them navigate through life. Coming to this realization, I knew that this was something I wanted

Additionally, I would work alongside other supporting staff to create and maintain an effective and beneficial environment for all students to succeed in. One of the main jobs of a social worker is to ensure social justice distribution to all individuals within their community. Social justice is based upon the principles of equal opportunities, responsibilities, treatments, and rights to all individuals. A social justice issue, otherwise known as social injustice, is when an action has occurred resulting in a group’s rights, opportunities, or responsibilities having been infringed upon or those individuals are treated unethically. For instance, a current social justice issue within the United States is the discrimination and stigma regarding individuals with mental illnesses. In addition to bringing awareness about the issue, I will continue to supply the individuals with the tools and social opportunities as a social

I was given the opportunity to do observations and shadowing experiences with many of the faulty members of Perandoe Special Education District located in Red Bud, Illinois. Not only was I able to observe several different school social workers, but I was also given the chance to shadow school psychologists and speech and language pathologists. Many of the students who have individualized education plans (IEPs) see more than one Perandoe member; therefore, I found it important to observe their individual sessions with the psychologists and pathologists in order to fully understand the services they are provided. The MSW program has a requirement of 450 field practicum hours per year and I plan to work with Perandoe Special Education again. With their permission and guidance, I would be under the direct supervision of a designated Perandoe social worker during daytime business hours in order to fulfill the practicum requirements alongside the required afternoon and evening courses for the MSW