English

I wasn't always a social work major. Upon entering SLU, education was my first option. I loved the idea of social work, but decided that education was the better fit. The classes I took only reinforced my decision. However, by the second semester a few different things came together and I second-guessed my major, eventually changing it by the end of the semester. One of the main things involved in that decision was the English class I took.

The first semester of freshman year, I had to take English 190. Writing comes easily to me, and this class didn't change that. At the end of the semester, I found out that my professor had gave my name to the director of the Writing Center, who was looking for students to start up a new class. This class, Writing Consulting in a Multimedia World, was to train me to become a writing consultant. I thought it would be interesting, and I kinda wanted the personal glory of taking a 400-level class my freshman year in college. There were two aspects of the class that made me consider my education major. First, the textbook and additional readings, and then the out-of-class work at the Writing Center. The book was very interesting, in that it focused on articles written by professionals in the Writing Consulting that included famous psychologists and linguists. I loved psychology and sociology, so I took a lot of the information to heart. The out-of-class assignment consisted of working shifts at the Writing Center. Students would make appointments, and then I would work with them on their papers. It was helpful, fun, and made me reconsider my future line of work.

The book focused on the history of writing centers, different conceptual ways for working with people, and the actual consultations themselves. A client's right to self-determination was paramount, as well as getting them to eventually be able to help themselves. As I would later find out, those are two central tenets of social work. The book was influential, but the writing consultations proved to be even more so. Working with ESL (English as a Second Language) students made me truly stop and try to understand and work well with people of different backgrounds and abilities. Working with the native English speakers clued me in to how much I loved helping people, and not in the sense that it would be if I was teaching students. It was helping them to work through their problems, and not just teach them the information. These thoughts came at a time when I realized I chose social work to escape my parents' professions. The English class just proved to be the tipping point, and for that I am thankful.