Tom Balsley, Social Work Class of 2005
Speech to Journey's gathering of local St. Olaf alumni
April 2005
As a senior, I find it appropriate that Mary invited me to speak with all of you today about how the social work program integrates itself so fully into the mission of the college. Preparing for this speech has been a process that I believe every student should undertake during their senior year because it forces one to reflect on four years and realize that amongst the never-ending busyness of student life, our professors, our friends, and our academic disciplines have molded us into Oles prepared to venture off into the unknown world of independence and carry out the mission of this college beyond its home based upon a hill. As a social work major, I know that my academic experience has prepared me to be a seeker of the truth, leading a life of unselfish service to others and to be a responsible and knowledgable citizen of the world.
Jonathan Swift stated, "Vision is the art of seeing the invisible." My experience as a social work major at St. Olaf has taught me to expand upon this and say: "Social work is the art of seeing the invisible and transforming it into something tangible." As a senior at Hononegah High School in Rockton, Illinois, I filled out college applications with no idea what academic path I wanted to pursue. As a first-year at St. Olaf College, I explored my liberal arts education engaged by a variety of disciplines, and somehow I ended up committing myself to the one that I knew the least about. Growing up as the son of a lawyer and a teacher, my understanding of social work was limited to its often comically inept portrayal on television and in the movies; however, these caricatures are the polar opposite of the profession that I have been apprenticed into.
As a social work major, I have experienced the definition of a liberal arts education while learning the detailed intricacies of a technical profession. Outside of my social work requirements, my convictions have grown out of courses with titles including, "Buddhism, Peace, and Justice" in the Religion department, "Growing up Poor in America" in the English department, "The American West" in the History department, "Comparative Politics" in the Policical Science Department, and "Principles of Economics" in the Economics department.
As a social work major, the values that I will act on as a professional have been cultivated through, "Social Problems, Social Change" in the Sociology department, "Human Development" in the Psychology department, and "Human Biology" in the Biology department. Within the Social Work department I have learned theory in Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Social Welfare Policy, and Evaluation of Social Work Practice and Programs. I have learned practice skills in my methods courses on working with individuals, groups, families, orgainzations, and communities. These courses have bestowed upon me a wealth of knowledge, but the Social Work program here at St. Olaf college has challenged me to take these concepts, theories, and principles and see how they function in the real world. The Social Work program has not only challenged me to do that, but it has challenged me to shape this world in to something more just, more ethical, more scientific, and more human. The Social Work program has challenged me to develop the gift of vision.
My participation in the Social Work program has prompted me to explore the world in a way that I could not have imagined four years ago. Social work has pressed me to explore a world in which I have helped a first-grade Northfield boy read his "Book in a Bag." It is a world in which I have picked coffee beans with a 30-year-old indigenous Mexican man. It is a world in which I have taught a 62-year-old homeless man in New York how to use a computer. It is a world in which I have been there for a 17-year-old probationer from Faribault, who is struggling with a substance problem. It is a world much different from the one I grew up knowing, but it is a world that has become very real and authentic to me.
During my sophomore year, a service-learning component of my Social Work 221 course led me to a program called Study Buddies that takes place in the Greenvale apartments here in Northfield. This program, organized by the affordable housing organization CommonBond Communities, paired me with a first-grader. Throughout the course of the school year, I developed a tutoring/mentoring relationship with my Study Buddy. Although my participation in the program did not seem extremely significant to me, my supervisor summarized the impact of the relationship I had built very concisely, stating, "At the beginning of the year, your Study Buddy burped all the time. By the end of the year, your Study Buddy was saying, 'excuse me' afterwards." I not only continued to volunteer in the program the following year, but I became the Volunteer Network Program Director for Study Buddies, working to recruit, coordinate, transport, and hold accountable the program's Olaf volunteers. Without social work, I would not have had this experience.
Interim of my sophomore year allowed me the opportunity to partake in one of St. Olaf's strongest traditions: study abroad. I decided to do so as a social work student, participating in Social Work 256: Family and Social Services in Central Mexico. During our month-long travels, I was personally exposed for the first-time to the comparative economic and social privilege we are afforded as United States citizens. While visiting the mountainous village of San Miguel Tzinacapan, I was assigned to spend one afternoon with a coffee grower named Miguel. I soon realized that my assignment was not at all about picking coffee beans -- it was about witnessing another way of life. In order to locate Miguel's home, we had to diverge from the gravel and clay road and traipse across open fields for what seemed like a mile, but was more likely half that distance. After crossing the green pasture, we had to maneuver our way through a second fence, this one barbed, and follow a well worn, single-file path that winded its way downhill through a grove of trees. Upon reaching our destination, we were welcomed by a chorus consisting of a dog, some chickens, some turkeys, and their chicks. We were also welcomed by Miguel, his wife, and their two young sons. The size of their dirt-floor, aluminum walled home seemed to be the equivalent of three notoriously small Kildahl rooms placed in a row. I could give an entire lecture on the experience that followed: picking coffee beans, watching Miguel work on the trinkets he sold at market, and walking alongside him for a half-hour as he carried a bag of beans that was at least as high as my waist back to Cuetzalan; however, I feel that the picture I have painted is sufficient to reveal to you the ever-present human connection I felt during my visit. Without social work, I would not have had this experience
After fall semester of my junior year, I felt compelled to immerse myself in the active world of social work -- and immerse myself, I did. Through connections pursued by Mary Carlsen, I was able to establish an academic internship in New York City with a non-profit organization called, "Partnership for the Homeless." I was assigned to work in "Peter's Place," a multi-service center for homeless people over the age of 55. My internship was a conglomeration of observation and experience that consisted of intake, transition, group therapy, advocacy, teaching, and outreach. One of the major contributions I made while at Peter's Place was my participation in a "Basics of Computers" class that I co-taught with a graduate intern from Hunter University in New York. Coming from a generation that was baptized into technology, it was very challenging for my co-worker and I to put ourselves in the shoes of our clients, but this experience taught me a principle fundamental to social work; accepting the client where they are. In order to apply this principle, I developed step-by-step guides to turning on and off the computer, accessing and maneuvering the Internet, and working in Microsoft Word. Through the class, we enabled one client, a former travel journalist, to renew her passion for writing. Another client was able to pursue access to the Internet so that he could rekindle relationships that had deteriorated over the years. Several clients were able to integrate their newly refined computer skills into searching out employment. This class was my initial exposure to the intervention process that in social work is referred to as the planned change process; I would not give myself an A plus on the job I did, but I would confidently say that I learned. Without social work, I would not have had this experience.
This fall is the culmination of my social work career here at St. Olaf. As a senior, I am currently engaged in a practicum experience in which I spend 400 hours struggling to put knowledge into practice. I am working at Rice County Community Corrections as a Juvenile Probation Intern, and my time there has been a roller coaster of excitement and frustration -- emotional evidence that I am growing as a student, and hopefully, as a professional. I have a case-load that fluctuates between ten and 16 clients, and helps lead preventative programs, including Anger Replacement Training with 6th grade boys and More Than A Game, an after school hoops and homework program for 7th and 8th grade boys who have been identified as at risk. My range of responsibilities includes collecting drug tests, conducting home and school visits, transporting clients to detention centers, developing client social histories, and making recommendations to the court. On Tuesday of this week I was able to participate in a multi-disciplinary advisory board for the Minnesota Covenant Academy, and academic institution, "...designed for children who demonstrate a desire to learn and show high academic potential, but due to unstable living environments may be performing below standard (http://www.ccspm.org/academy/covenant.html)." This meeting brought together professionals from education, psychology, sociology, human service, probation, and social work backgrounds to discuss the best way for this institution to serve its target population. Brainstorming in response to the question, "What do we know about the group of kids we intend to serve?" board members raised several insightful points, including: the presence of abuse in many of these kids lives, the diverse range of learning styles the youth may have, the kids' history of independence and resiliency, reflect on their points of highest and lowest functioning and see what was going on in their lives, a potential for distrust of adults and adverse sentiments towards authority, the importance of the client's perception of why they are there, and the importance of acknowledging typical human development patterns, and sharing that with the student. Through this progressive dialogue, an ideal of what the school could become came into being. This collaborative effort engaged in the previously defined art of vision. Without social work, I would not have had this experience.
In a world and a society that is growing increasingly more complex, the principles and values of social work remain glaringly simple. While many professions are advancing boldly into technology that seemed unfathomable 40, 20, 10, 5, two years ago, social work is firmly rooted in its timeless core values: service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person (and the society), importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence. Now, this is not to say that social work is a stagnant profession, and this is not to say that any nice person off of the street can do social work. Like all professions, social work thrives upon fresh theories, innovative models, and novel techniques, but unlike many professions, the mechanism for application of these specialized advances has qualitative value of the human connection, and as society becomes more and more technical and mechanical, the human connection is an endangered entity. Skills such as empowerment, active listening, cultural competency, empathy, and advocacy may seem simple enough in the comforts of this room, but when one visits with a 17 year-old who has everything to lose if they continue to use drugs, these skills become immensely more challenging to apply.
During my practicum, I have been meeting once a week with a 17 year-old male, and one of my responsibilities is to collect a drug-test from him during each visit. The client knows that if he has smoked marijuana during the last week, his results will not only come back positive, but they will reveal the amount of THC in his system. This allows probation to monitor his use. If he has been able to not use during the week, his results will go down. If he has used in the past week, the results will go up. It is a very simple and very reliable system; however, in the past 8 weeks of my practicum, my client has never been honest to me about his drug use -- until yesterday. I will be the first to admit that different approaches work for different kids, and in this situation, breaking down the barriers of professional versus client, expert versus non-expert, allowed me to connect with this kid. My probation officer supervisor has never been able to get this client to come clean about his drug use -- but yesterday I was able to. And through this minor moment, I can see hope beginning to bloom. The momentum for postivie change in this client's life has broken through the wall of mistrust and dishonesty he had enclosed himself in, and hopefully this will help him see his situation in a fresh and productive way. I credit this change with the professional principle that states, "Social workers should consider clients experts on their own lives."
Margaret Mead once stated, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." When I sit in my social work 370 seminar every other Monday night, I believe that I see the empirical foundation of what Mead was referring to. This year, there are 12 senior social work majors who are learning to become what the St. Olaf mission statement implores us to mature into: In the conviction that life is more than a livelihood, St. Olaf focuses on what is ultimately worthwhile and fosters the development of the whole person in mind, body, and spirit. By integrating the social work model of a Bio-Psycho-Social-Spiritual approach, my classmates and I are on the cusp of applying our knowledge gained over the past four years to the world awaiting. For me personally, I plan on spending a year or two working at a social service agency abroad through the Lutheran Youth Global Missions Program before returning home to participate in the domestic social service system for a few years. After these years of experience with direct practice, I hope to attend Columbia University in New York and gain a Masters in Administrative Social Work. I hope to use my experiences and my degree to take on a leadership position in a non-profit organization that deals with meeting the basic needs of people at home and abroad. I hope that my professional career lives up to the values of service, justice, human dignity, and integrity that my education here at St. Olaf has prepared me for. I hope that I can maintain the gift of vision.
