Helping Kids Learn How To Become Good Citizens - Personal Statement Example

Early Prevention Intervention Internship Report: Helping Kids Learn How To Become Good Citizens I. Introduction My internship at the Early PreventionIntervention (EPI) is a 30 hour a week program which exposed me to criminal justice system. The EPI program that I was in deals with kids around the age of 12-17 (http://www.hialeahfl.gov). The EPI is based on the principle that early intervention produces the best results. Most of these kids have been referred by the court after they have been charged for specific offenses. Many of these kids came from problematic homes and often times; they lack the proper parental guidance. It is therefore the job of the people at the EPI to help these kids learn to become responsible citizens. Under the program for delinquents; kids do community service and attend remedial classes to help them stir away from crimes. The community service activities of the kids are closely monitored by the program. On the other hand, the remedial classes under the program are designed to teach the students how to avoid drugs, how to drive safely, how to stir away from violence and other criminal activities. Delinquent minors are not the only focus of the EPI program. The program also accommodates student volunteers who want to get involve in the community and help in the parks and recreation programs of the city. Most of the student volunteers are very much aware of the need to contribute to the betterment of their community and it is quite inspiring to be around these kids. II. My Internship Experience My internship at the EPI is one of the best work experiences I have so far. As an intern, I am involved in the most of the activities of the program so I get to learn about a lot of things and gained confidence in my abilities. I work under the supervision of my boss Willie Sanchez who sees to it that I get as much exposure as I can under the program. Mr. Sanchez is a good boss. He gives clear instructions on what I need to do and he sees to it that I get all the resources that I need to perform my job. At the start of my internship, I was given mostly manual work in the park and recreation warehouse. My job was to help fill in order forms, do inventory monitoring and carried boxes around the warehouse. However, when Mr. Sanchez saw that I am very much capable of doing more challenging tasks; he gradually introduced me to the other aspects of the EPI program. My boss made me attend every event and field trip of the kids. My job was to explain to the kids the importance of the activity and to make sure that the kids learn something from these field trips. I usually conduct a short orientation regarding the activity at the start of the field trip. When we are pressed for time, I usually do the orientation on the bus on the way to our destination. After the field trip, I usually ask the kids to give their impressions of the activity and what they have learned so far during the field trip. Aside from going on field trips, my boss also entrusted me with more complicated and challenging tasks. I usually help my boss in classroom activities every Tuesday and Thursday. My boss relies on me to organize the classroom materials for these classes and make sure that the students who are enrolled in these classes get the instructional materials that they need. I also make sure that the kids who are supposed to be in these sessions attend their classes. Aside from helping my boss around the classroom, I also make powerpoint presentations for him, help organize events for the kids and do keep records of the kids activities and their progress. When we have guest lecturers at the center, my boss often request me to assist these lecturers. When the gang unit of the police department came over to conduct classes for the kids, he requested me to do the powerpoint presentation for the unit and provide assistance to the officers during classroom activities. The powerpoint presentation was meant to show the kids the dangers of getting involved in gang activities. It also showed how gang activities can affect the lives of people in a negative way. I used some pictures in the presentation to illustrate the ill effects of gang activities. When it comes to the safe driving classes, my role is usually limited to giving assistance to the officer in charge of the class and helps him during presentations. Aside from remedial classes, the program also provides the kids access to support groups like the narcotics anonymous. The program encourages kids who are into substance abuse to attend narcotics anonymous meetings regularly. Kids who are exposed early to narcotics anonymous meetings are more likely to do better as they grow older (Kelly, J. F., & Myers, M. G. (September 2007). Strong support system is emphasized during these meetings to help kids overcome drug dependency (Toumbourou, J. W., Hamilton, M., URen, A., Stevens-Jones, P., & Storey, G. (July 2002) On top of my classroom duties, I also do some administrative work during my internship at the EPI. My boss wanted me to be very familiar with the different aspects of the program so he made sure that I get to do classroom, administrative and field work during my stay. As part of my administrative job, I handle data information of all the kids under the program. Case managers and park directors submit weekly report on the attendance, behavior and daily routine of the kids under their care. It is my job to collate, organize and encode all these reports in the computer. I then furnish copies of the reports to the concerned individuals. Sometimes, my boss also request me to write letters of recommendations on what activities a specific kid need to do to complete his or her court sanctioned programs. As part of the records keeping process, we also do field interviews on the kids under the program. In line with this, I had the privilege of assisting the case workers and other staff of the program in conducting field interviews with the kids who are involved in the program. Armed with questionnaires, we set out to meet some of the kids who are involved in the program and take turns in asking them questions regarding the things that they have learned through the program. Sound social work principles dictate that proper monitoring of cases must be made to make sure that each case is given proper attention (Statham, Daphne (2004) We use different forms and different set of questions for kids who are under the student volunteer program and for those kids who are under the corrective programs sanctioned by the courts. For student volunteers, we usually ask them how their experience can help them become better students and citizens of the country. I enjoy talking to the student volunteers because they are very enthusiastic about their work and they have a lot to say about the program. Some of these student volunteers even offer sound suggestions as to how the EPI can improve the program. Clearly, kids who are happy and are well adjusted tend to be more optimistic about life and they tend to take more interest of their surroundings (Cooper, Mick (2008) While student volunteers are easy to talk to, kids who are referred to the EPI by the courts are not always so outspoken about their feelings. Troubled kids do not usually respond well to probing questions (Turk, CL; Heimberg, RG; Hope, DA (2001). In most cases, these kids do not like to talk much about why they are in the program and what they have learned from the program so far. It takes some time and a lot of efforts to extract information from these kids especially when there are problems between the kids and their park directors. When we encounter problems involving the kids and their park directors during the field interviews, we make a report of the incident and the program management will be the one to handle the situation. Although doing field interviews with the problematic kids can be both challenging and stressful, I do not see it as a negative experience. In fact, my interaction with these kids made me a better person. Talking to these kids helped me understand life better. Being with these trouble kids made me realize that there is more to life than what meets the eyes. Many of these troubled kids are actually very smart and if given the proper guidance, these kids can succeed in life. III. Classroom Knowledge vs. Internship Experience Theories and practices do not necessarily go hand in hand. Some of the things that we learn from the classroom are not applicable in the real world. In order to be successful in our chosen fields, we need to balance theories and practices. We need to put to work what we have learned in school together with the things that we learn from the field. Working as an intern at the EPI gave me a lot of insights and made me realize that things are not always what they seem to be. I learned that there are a lot of things that cannot be learned within the four walls of the classroom and through text books. In the classroom, I only learn about theories, principles and established rules through books and lectures. Although these things that I learned through lectures, research and independent readings were useful, these knowledge is not enough to prepare me for the realities of life. You see, when dealing with hypothetical situations in the classroom, we always get a second shot at finding solutions to a given problem. In the real world, we do not usually get that second chance. Moreover, some organizational policies sometimes run contrary to theories we learned in the classroom (Popple, Philip R. and Leslie Leighninger (2008). Situations like these often leave us at a loss as to how to react to a given situation. Addressing different situations at the field can be quite complex. My expose at the EPI made me realize how ill-equipped I am to tackle complex situations. I realized that when you are out there in the field, a lot of things take place so fast that you sometimes and if we do not know how to improvise and be creative, we can lose a lot of opportunities. For instance, while conducting field interviews, I often encounter resistance from troubled kids and in situations like this, I what I have learned in the classroom is not enough to help me get the information that I need. However, after conducting a number of interviews and handling objections from the kids that I talked to, I gradually learned how to handle these situations and get the information that I need. Along the way, I also learned how to anticipate the reactions of the kids when I start asking questions. Clearly, experience plays a big role in this case. Although what I have learned about human relations inside the classroom helped me adjust to different situations, it was my actual experience which really helped me get good results during my field interviews. Another difference between classroom experience and field experience is that in the classroom, the environment is controlled and the learners get to focus their attention to a few things at a given time. On the other hand, in the real world, we do not have the luxury of limiting your focus on just a few things and ignore the things that are not really of great concern to us. As an intern at the EPI, I need to multi-task and take on a number of responsibilities all at once. You see, like most organizations in the country, the activities of EPI are interrelated so you cannot just lift one aspect of the operation and focus on it. Moreover, aside from managing my time as in intern at EPI, I also need to manage my own expectations of myself, my colleagues and the people around me. Expectation management is very important when we are faced with the realities in the life. When we are out there in the real world, we do not just get failing grades if we fail, we also lose a lot of things including the people who put their trusts in us. IV. How My Internship Experience Helped Me Clarify My Goals As society continues to evolve, there will always be a strong demand for social workers (Wittenberg, Renee (2003). This means that there are a lot of opportunities for growth and development. Being able to work under the EPI program made me realize how important social work is and how social work compliments the justice system. Before my internship at the EPI, I used to see the justice system as punitive but after my short stint at the EPI, I now realize that the justice system is not only about punishing those who committed crimes but rather, it is also about correction of a wrong and extending a helping hand to those who are in need of guidance (Eadie, T. & Morley, R. (2003). Young people who committed crimes are not necessarily bad. More often than not, these young people are just victims of a given situation. Programs like EPI will only help young people learn to be good citizens; it can also help these young people understand the real meaning of life. With this realization, I am now more convinced than ever than a career along this path is best for me. References: Cooper, Mick (2008). Essential Research Findings in Counselling and Psychotherapy: The Facts are Friendly. SAGE Publications Eadie, T. & Morley, R. (2003) ‘Crime, Justice and Punishment’ in Baldock, J. et al. (eds) Social Policy (3 rd edn.). Oxford: Oxford University Press http://www.hialeahfl.gov/dept/rec/programs/epi/ Kelly, J. F., & Myers, M. G. (September 2007). "Adolescents participation in Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous: Review, implications and future directions". Journal of Psychoactive Drugs 39 (3): 259–269 Popple, Philip R. and Leslie Leighninger (2008). The Policy-Based Profession: An Introduction to Social Welfare Policy Analysis for Social Workers (4th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson/Allyn and Bacon. Statham, Daphne (2004). Managing Front Line Practice in Social Work. New York, NY: Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Toumbourou, J. W., Hamilton, M., URen, A., Stevens-Jones, P., & Storey, G. (July 2002). "Narcotics Anonymous participation and changes in substance use and social support". Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 23 (1): 61–66 Turk, CL; Heimberg, RG; Hope, DA (2001). "Social Anxiety Disorder". in Barlow, DH. Clinical Handbook of Psychological Disorders: A step by step manual, 3rd ed.. The Guilford Press, New York. pp. 114–153. Wittenberg, Renee (2003). Opportunities in Social Work Careers (Revised ed.). Chicago, IL: VGM Career Books. Read More