Life is good!

I left this morning for my MSW orientation. I arrived at 8am and it went until 4pm. It was a long day but I got to know many other MSW students in the program at Aurora University. I really like the campus. It is small but beautiful. It is also nice to be taking it with three other friends that graduated from WIU with me in May.
I have so much coming up and and really looking forward to the weeks and months to come.
Next week I am doing an interview with a writer for a magazine. That is all I will share on that for now. I then have my first meetings at the high school I am working at on Friday and then again Monday the 25th. I will be a social work intern Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Unlike my past internship in undergrad I get paid this time which will at least cover my gas. I have to arrive by 7am every morning. The high school is a half hour away. So it looks like I will be leaving the house at 6am. I do not want to risk traffic. This is going to be an adjustment for me I will have to go to bed much earlier. I must say I never in a million years thought when I was graduating high school that four years later I would be returning and working in one. High school was difficult for me. A very difficult time during my life but it only helped make me the person I am today now dedicated to wanting to help students overcome obstacles and become successful no matter what others may think. I will not lie I am nervous and I am sure that the first two weeks will be. I am a very confident person but I feel I am going to be confused for a student and not staff. I look like I could be junior or senior in high school. I get it all the time from people. Not a 23 year old college grad student. I know I will have stories to come about staff stopping me in the halls asking to see my hall pass or teachers thinking I am a student. Hopefully during the meetings next week and the following I will introduce myself to much of the teachers and staff. I cannot begin to say how excited I am about this new phase in my life. I always had a passion to work with little kids not high school students but over the years after I went public with my life story it was the high school students I heard from so frequently who I was able to reach. It has been going into high schools and speaking to students on my life story that I was able to reach out and inspire so many students. It is their letters I read later that touch my heart. Letters of students breaking their own silence to me and thanking me for helping them find their voice. It is the phone calls from parents thanking me for helping their son or daughter find their voice when no one else could. It has been this experience over the past few years that has brought me to the field of school social work in high school.
Now I know one other thing that will happen when I begin working in a high school. Having 16 year old boys wanting to make appointments to see me not because they are having academic, family, or personal problems but because they want to hit on the intern. Believe me I will tell them one thing: Get back to class. I think my supervisor is going to be wonderful to work with. I have not seen her since my interview with her, another social worker, and an assistant principal. I have spoken with her on the phone and she seems to be a wonderful person to work with.
I will go in with confidence and professionalism.
When I am not working in the high school I will be in class myself. I have grad classes on Thursdays from 8am-7pm. I know a very long day with only a 45 minute break between 4-4:45pm. I will survive the semester. It will be well worth it in May when I have my MSW and did it in 10 months. I’d be curious what that 11th grade math teacher would have to say today who stopped me in front of the entire class my junior year when I could not figure out the math problem and asked me if I planned to go to college. When I said yes she told me I need to rethink my future college is not in it. It blows my mind a teacher could say that to a student but she said it to the right student while at the time I left class crying today it was her nasty discouraging words that pushed me to prove to myself not to allow some crab to stop me from succeeding.
So the next time you think you cannot be successful or someone doubts you think twice and prove to yourself you can do anything you put your mind to. It is all in the attitude that will help you succeed not algebra! 🙂