Sociology

A community based on social justice, respect for human sanctity and integrity acts as the key indicator for its social cultural and economic development.  My professional goal is founded on the basis to work and contribute towards child protection and advocating for intensification and respect fro their rights.  On the other hand, my education goals are focused towards achieving an in-depth knowledge on matters of social, economic, and political consideration that affect the society.  Consequently, this understanding will enable me to efficiently deal with present and emerging issues affecting the society at the personal and community level.

These goals are further in tandem with your mission statement which focuses on social change through analysis of political, social and economic factors in the area.  It is also notable that I am also interested in gaining advanced skills that could further assist me in impacting peoples lives positively during my career as an advanced approach in graduate work which greatly promotes collective and personal liberation.

To indicate, my interest in becoming a social worker began at thirteen years age when my family lived in Vietnam. During this period, it is worth noting that social situation in Vietnam was indeed wanting and therefore warranted special attention.  It is worth noting that by this time, the country was trying to rebuild itself after being war torn for a long period.  Following to the high intensity of the war aftermath, many children were being forced to beg on the streets to make their ends meet. Alternatively, the children were looking for work a consideration that made individuals to take advantage and used them as a cheap source of labor.  Due to pressure of economic hardship, most of the young girls were engaging in prostitution to substitute their family income.  These happenings left me wondering why there was no one fighting for the lives of these children.  I resolved to fight for the rights of children to ensure that they are not oppressed and they get a chance to enjoy their rights. Ultimately, in concluded that I should pursue a basic degree in social work.

My undergraduate degree program in social work has equipped me with the basic knowledge that I needed to become a professional social worker.  In addition, my experience in Vietnam has been a further influencing factor in my decision to become a social worker. Following this experience, I have a clear mental picture of how I want the lives of children to be.  It should be free of oppression, the basic needs of children should be met and they should be able to live with people who will give them the love and care they need for healthy growth.  As I get into social work as a professional, the above goals will be addressed with vitality.

Valuable experiences that have prepared me for entry into social work as a professional include interim counseling at Bill Wilson Center, Santa Clara. During this time I provided counseling services to adults and children either as individuals or as groups. The experience equipped me with knowledge on the various issues that affect people of different ages and gender.  Besides, I worked as a facilitator where I engaged, educated, encouraged and monitored clients to choose living healthier lives.  In addition to that, I also helped new students and volunteers to join social work programs after school.

Working as a councilor intern, I provided counseling services to the community. The range of services I offered included advising teenagers to avoid drug abuse, helping the teenagers already using drugs to stop, and helping others to resolve issues between youths and their families.  Besides, as an activity director and a desk clerk in Jeanne DArc Manor, San Jose, I planned, orchestrated, organized and oversaw the completion of the seniors activities and other leading residents activity programs.

From the programs offered by your institution, I expect to gain advanced skills that will enable me to serve the society better. This will include enhancing my skills of handling people from diverse backgrounds. I also aim at gaining knowledge that will enable me to identify and deal with my personal biases. Having dealt with my biases, it will be easier for me to help others in the community.  Notably, I would like to indicate that I aim at increasing training on how to follow the code of conduct for social workers while doing my work especially in situations where compromise is highly plausible. The professional education cannot be complete without me gaining comprehensive knowledge on how to carry out research on the various issues affecting the society. Under this consideration, I will follow my professional education to obtain a certificate that will act as a proof of my qualifications and which will give me credibility as a social worker.
 
My experience from living in a region that was in dire need of social work has influenced my perspective on social work as a profession. Social work according to me is working towards making the lives of the disadvantaged in the society much better. Its about interacting with the disadvantaged individuals and leaving an indelible positive mark in their lives. With the above experience as a social worker, I have come to realize that social work cannot be really restricted to a single group of individuals but it cuts through the society and further requires specialized training. For example in improving the lives of children from disadvantaged families, one has to involve their parents as well as the government.

My idea of social justice is a situation where fairness prevails in all societal aspects.  I view beyond the horizon a situation where all members of a community are accorded equal opportunities and rights.  Presently, majority of the people do not know their rights a consideration that creates disparities in various aspects of society.  Therefore, for social justice to be realized in a society, the members of the society need to be informed of their rights and the opportunities available for them.  Sociologists argue that social workers are critical by empowering the members of the community to fight for their rights and to take up available opportunities.  As a result, realization of social justice in a community is easily achieved.  However, I do acknowledge the fact that realization of social justice in a society is not easy and in most cases it remains a theoretical notion. To address this outlook, combined efforts of various individuals can help to change the lives of those disadvantaged in their lives and therefore facilitate new objectivity and new living.

In my life as a social worker, I have interacted with people of diverse backgrounds.  Particularly, I worked with adults, teenagers, middle schoolchildren as well as high school children who came from different backgrounds and therefore harbored variant life perspectives. Notably, though their approach to issues greatly differed, I was supposed to help them deal with tall of their problems as a counselor.  I must admit that this consideration of providing a solution to all proved very, however, I learnt how to do it.  Through this experience, I learnt how to put my personal biases aside when dealing with clients and fit in their situations but from a professional standpoint. While working as a counselor intern, I also learnt how to handle people of different ages. Owing to their different social needs mainly curved out of their age demands, the experience was equally hard and I had to appreciate and devise methods to address them.

Other professional goals that motivated me to seek for admission into your university program of social work included the need to change to change societies through professional application applications of learnt skills as a professional social worker.  I aspire to become a well known advocator for the rights of the less privileged in the society especially the children. Besides, I also want to ensure that the childrens basic needs are met by empowering their parents and guardians as well as liaising with the various stakeholders in ensuring that children enjoy their childhood.  Of critical importance, is to further contribute towards achievement of social justice and furthering application of social work ethical ideals.  I must indicate at this point that this noble task is indeed very hard however, I am determined to effectively pursue it.  

As a flash back, I must indicate with in-depth consideration that I saw as I grew up will forever remain a constant reminder of the societal demands and therefore a ringing better of my goals.  As a result, I have never lost focus on my goals a consideration that motivates me in my study as well as my work. My experiences as a social worker in various places made me realize that to be a successful social worker I need to be more equipped.  As indicated earlier, this created the unending thrust for me to apply for a Masters degree in social work from your university.  The degree will therefore be the center post in anchoring my capability to accomplish core obligations as a social worker.

I must indicate at this point that my interactions with various groups of people during my social work further exposed me to real life experience which further cemented the interest in social work.  Particularly, I have gathered special knowledge in relation to key problems that affect the society a consideration that has further my capacity to resolve such issues.

In conclusion, I need to state that my quest to further my education and indeed to become a professional social worker is based on the believe that the best approach to making the society a better place is through improving childrens lives since they are the future society.  Therefore, I will use my degree to create a better environment for all from the outlined experience and bringing a new viewpoint for social work in the community.  Besides, I will use my Masters Degree to in Social Work (MSW) to augment the existing social workers and ultimately become a better social worker.  It is from the above consideration that request for your consideration of my quest to further study social work in your institution as the key step towards addressing the social injustices in the country.