In my understanding, the Social Work Student Association is funded so we can connect as SW students, to support SW students and to promote our department. Well, all it ever seems that they do is throw themselves parties. Last semester was a BBQ. This semester is a graduate dinner and this get-together. That's all fine, actually. If it were only the occasional party in addition to other activities, I'd be fine with it. What really bugs me about our Association never gets involved in anything that social workers should. We are supposed to stand up for the oppressed and hurting and fight for social justice, right? Well, in our school, you see many events for those such things, just not from the social work department! I've seen the business department fund raising for the food bank, kinesiology students raising funds for earthquake victims and fashion students (!) raising funds for shelters.
So what have social work students done? Well, we did sell cupcakes (because we were required to to keep our association) to fund a scholarship for social work students. And so why don't I get involved? Well, I have and found the people involved to be such a clique that it's impossible to infiltrate it. So I get involved where I can (I assisted with BSW interviews last semester) and try to rally people to actually do something. Anything...
3 comments:
We never did anything when I was studying like that - no parties but no fund-raising or 'worthiness' either. I think we were all so sick of each other by the end of the day (it was quite an intensive course) that we didn't really want to see each other afterwards!
It was also, more realistically because there were a lot of older students who had families etc to go home to and couldn't be doing with hanging around drinking wine until the early hours.. not that I would ever have done anything like that!
I was assistant treasurer and historian for our social work student association. I was very proud of us given our starting circumstances. That academic year the school had gotten a new president of student association affairs and she had a hellish number of hoops every student association had to jump through and prove that it's a wonder any sa got anything done. We did manage to buy the dress and tux for mr and mrs social work (wry grin) and do the float for homecoming. we sponsored a family for thanksgiving and for christmas and we also put on the banquet for phi alpha initiation ceremony including corsages for all inductees during social work month. but our biggest accomplishment was that we had nearly $3000 left in the kitty to pass on to the next year's officers. considering we started with nothing and books that were totally in a mess i feel very proud of that. it was very interesting for me as up to that point I was not used to working on a team. it was a great experience.
I don't even know if we had a social work student association in our graduate school. There was a BSW program at the school, so maybe they had one. I don't know how active a graduate-level student association would be. We had all our classes on Monday and Tuesdays and then we all worked in our practicums the rest of the week (and sometimes Monday nights, like me).
Post a Comment