Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Opportunity Galore

One thing is for sure; as a MSW graduate student at UNC-Chapel Hill, you can never say/ask "where are the opportunities"? As the week has progressed, I am amazed at the number of scholarships, training programs (free of charge), workshops, and lecture sessions that are available to enhance oneself. Furthermore, I am delighted to know that the School of Social Work has taken an active role in engaging students on the concept of being a leader within the profession. On yesterday, I attended a discussion/presentation at the school given by DSS Director, Joe Rayomnd. Joe discussed the essentials of leadership and performance management (knowing what we want to achieve within an organization (outcomes) and striving to make that happen). As a dual degree student with the School of Government (MPA) a lot of things mentioned during Joe's presentation resonated well with me. Future practitioners within social work must come to truly understand that helping organizations and the services that we seek to provide are only going to be as good as the leadership within them. Personally, it is my belief that an organization with a great mission and a leader with no vision is doomed. With that being said, know that the MSW program at UNC is a wonderful place to be "if" you really aspire to be a world changer on all levels!