When told at the beginning of the semester that we were going to have to interview a leader in our desired field, the words, "oh crap" fluttered in my mind because I was not sure what my "desired field" exactly was. At first, I thought I would interview my sociology professor seeing that I was very interested in that class and figured that I wouldn't mind doing something in that field later in life. However, the more I thought about it the more I started to realize that something I want to do, no matter if for a career or a hobby, is help people. After I asked around and did a little research into careers or majors where I could help others, I came across Social Work. There a are a lot of majors and careers that allow you to help others, but this was most similar to what I had in mind. I then found Dr. Herman Curiel from the school of Social Work here on campus and learned of the many things he had done before becoming a professor here at the university.
As a sophomore in college, Curiel was double majoring in sociology and education, when a friend of his talked to him about social work. His friend explained what is was about and what you could do with this degree and by the time the two were done talking Curiel knew Social Work was the field he wanted to be in. Dr. Curiel later received his PhD from Texas A&M in 1979 and has been working to help people ever since then. He made it very clear that many people hear "social work" or "social worker" and automatically think of DHS. When in actuality, there are so many more opportunities with a degree in social work, rather than just working for DHS.
During the interview with mixed questions about a degree in Social Work and strategies to be successful in this field, Dr. Curiel recommended for students in my position to stay focused and to do something they really love doing. When he expanded on this, he told me that if you do something that you enjoy doing then after college is over with you can look back and know that your time in college was worth the struggles and challenges because you are out in the world doing something that makes you happy.
I asked Dr. Curiel what all he had done with his degree, what all of his interests in the field were, and what he felt was his greatest achievement from all of his hardwork. He explained to me that he had specialized, but never had his own private practive (although he could have), in the mental health/mentally ill patients and marriage and family counseling. I was glad to hear that he was a marriage and family counselor because that is also a similar interest of mine. Even though the majority of the people he has helped were in those areas, he also has an interest in elderly hispanic people and HIV/AIDS, along with many other interests. He told me that the main reason for him wanting to get into social work was for his grandmother, she was hispanic and did not speak very well english at all. She became very ill and Dr. Curiel was the one to help and take care of her. After talking about all his certain interests, he answered what his greatest achievement had been thus far. He seemed to have no doubt in mind that his greastest achievement was seeing the positive impact he made in peoples' lives and helping others. I personally think that sort of reward would make me happier than being rich and not happy with what I am doing what-so-ever with my life.
Curiel also gave me tips for college and explained to me what all being a social worker might entail. When I asked for helpful tips that he would give to an aspiring social worker he told me that he suggests students figure out what motivates them and to prioritize. He went further and gave tips for all college students saying, "Learn about yourself, know yourself. Pay attention to what stresses you out and learn a way to solve those problems so that in the future you can recognize it and fix the situation before it completely overwhelms you." After talking for awhile about stress in college, we finally moved on to what being a social worker entails. Curiel explained that to be an effective social worker, one must learn to separate work life from their personal life; nevertheless, it still may be tough at first but there are couseling and help classes for those it is more difficult for. He also said that one must be mentally tough. I knew you had to be mentally tough for some of the situations or challenges you might come across as a social worker but it didn't completely sink in until just then and I think Curiel could tell by look on my face that I was a little concerned with that so he let me know that the courses in college help you become more mentally tough and that there are counseling or help groups for that also.
As the interview started to come to an end, after about an hour, I asked how a leadership role would be important in this certain field. Curiel seemed to think that leadership was a very important quality to hold as a social worker because of all of the people you are trying to help in order to better their lives or help them with a certain problem. They all see you and talk to you and with their lives not being at best, they need a good leader to look up to. If you are giving them advice or trying to help and you don't hold any qualities of a great leader, then how effective is the help or advice really going to be to them? Not very. After Curiel explained that to me, I traced it back to what leadership is...a positive influence... and that is exactly what a social worker would need to be.
Talking to Dr. Curiel was very helpful in many ways and I am so glad that I got the chance to interview him. He answered many questions that I was not too sure about and cleared up some pretty vague areas in my head. I know that I want to help people in some way and after talking to Dr. Curiel this seems like a great way to do just that!
For further information on social work visit, www.naswdc.org
My thought the rest of this week will be to try and be the best positive influence in everything that I do :) Have a good rest of the week!
-Courtney
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