The New Social Worker Vol. 19, No. 4, Fall 2012 | Page 24

On Campus STUDENT SOCIAL WORK ORGANIZATIONS Please send us a short news article about your group’s activities. Also, send us photos of your club in action—we may even feature you on our front cover! It’s easy to share your club’s activities with our readers. Send your news/photos to: Linda Grobman, ACSW, LSW, Editor/Publisher THE NEW SOCIAL WORKER P.O. Box 5390, Harrisburg, PA 17110-0390 or to [email protected] Greetings From the Phi Alpha Honor Society for Social Work National Office Phi Alpha has awarded the following chapters the “Chapter Service Award” for 2012 with a $500 check, beautiful plaque, and travel expenses to CSWE-APM in Washington, DC: • • • • Boise State University—Dr. Misty Wall, Advisor and Shirlene Elledge, President Florida International University—Dr. Mary Helen Hayden, Advisor and Nicola Bryan, Betsy Godoy-Rosado, Presidents Texas A&M University—Dr. Claudia Rappaport, Advisor and Rebecca Saunders, Jennifer Brietzke, Presidents University of Arkansas—Michael Collie, LCSW, Advisor and Tina Smith, President Congratulations to all the winners, and thank you to all chapters that applied for the Chapter Service Award and to the advisors that served as judges in various regions. The Phi Alpha Poster Board Presentation will be hosted at CSWE-APM in Washington, DC, in November. Please visit http://www.phialpha.org or e-mail [email protected] for more information. Kind Regards, Tammy Hamilton, Executive Secretary THE SOCIAL WORK GRADUATE SCHOOL APPLICANT’S HANDBOOK Second Edition by Jesús Reyes Required reading for anyone who wants to get a master’s degree in social work. In The Social Work Graduate School Applicant’s Handbook, you will learn about the admissions process from an insider’s perspective.You will discover what will help (and hurt) your chances of being accepted to the school of your choice, and you will find tips on deciding which school is right for you. Jesús Reyes, AM, ACSW, LCSW, is Director of the Social Service Department of the Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois, and former assistant dean for enrollment at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration. Now available in Kindle format at Amazon.com AND in print at Amazon.com or shop.whitehatcommunications.com “If you are applying to MSW programs, Reyes’ guide...will quickly become a favorite resource.” Tara Kuther, Ph.D., About.com Guide to Graduate Schools 22 The New Social Worker Fall 2012 Webb—continued from page 3 An outdoor environment is where Webb would like to be if she had her druthers—hiking, meditating, camping, and enjoying wildlife. She also likes cooking and the company of her boyfriend, a fellow social work student. “It’s really cool to date someone with a similar personality type,” she says. “If I feel upset I can’t help someone, or get too emotionally involved, he can rein me back in.” Webb’s choice of social work was based partly on her inveterate desire to help, and partly on a social worker she met during a hospitalization for emotional issues. “He provided me with resources and helped me make the transition to outside the hospital,” she recalls. But while she’s definitive about wanting to be a social worker, Webb is uncertain about her specific plans. Ultimately, she’d like to get an MSW, but would like to “explore” for a while before coming to further decisions. She expects she’ll go wherever she feels “called and needed,” but also suspects her “dream job” will be working with those in recovery. Webb’s required senior year practicum, however, will involve working with people with HIV/AIDS and on prevention. She may seem hugely altruistic, but Webb insists that reaching out to other people—especially those with addiction issues—is in a way “self-serving. “In order to recover and stay sober, I have to help others,” she says. There is another motivation. “The reason I am willing to have a conversation and expose a very dark part of my life I’m not proud of is that I really want to work on breaking the stigma of drug and alcohol addiction, so people can recover from it. So I’m willing to air my dirty laundry.” Barbara Trainin Blank is a freelance writer based in Harrisburg, PA. The New Social Worker is on Twitter! Follow us at: http://www.twitter.com/newsocialworker