Month: September 2016

G.O.A.L.

Global Awareness: As a global citizen, I feel incredibly connected to problems happening around the world. I feel that as our world becomes more connected through technology and just through the growing diversity even in America, it becomes more of a reality to come into contact with a person who is different culturally than us and is struggling with different global impacts. I plan on going on a missions trip to Cambodia with my church, which will be my first major experience outside of my own country and my own culture. I am extremely excited for this upcoming trip and the effect it could have on the ways that I view the world
Original Inquiry: I am extremely interested in researching the area of child welfare. I think that it is an incredibly interesting an relevant topic. Particularly how children deal with, categorize, and view their own trauma that they’ve experienced, both when they were children and when they become adults. I’m really excited for the possibility of the research area and how policy and practice could be changed for the benefit of the children using this kind of research.
Academic Enrichment: I am a scholar at heart. I love learning about subject areas that interest me. This obviously includes the area of social work. I am excited for my next two years of academic pursuit and how I can grow in knowledge of this field and than intrinsically grow in my love for this field.
Leadership Development: Leadership development has been something that I had shy’d away from in the past, not seeing myself as a natural leader, but as I have began to take on leadership roles in my personal life, I have felt more empowered to pursue leadership development in my personal life too. I’m taking a leadership class right now for my church so I am seeing practically how leadership could advance the impact I have- especially on a macro level- in social work.

 

Career

Throughout my time at OSU, my natural interests have inclined me towards working with children. I have been a daycare provider at two different facilities. I have also been a camp counselor, a Sunday school teacher, and a children’s Bible instructor. Through this variety of experience, I’ve both grown my interest in working with children as well as my skills. This really shapes my interest in eventually going into child welfare as a career. This also shapes my interest in continuing to do research involving the foster care system and the prevention of childhood trauma.

Artifacts

aces-portfolio

This portfolio is a reflection of my two years in the Advocates for Children and Education Scholars program at OSU. This program also helped to shape my interest in children and their specific needs, and how I as a social work student could help to meet those needs. Included in this portfolio is my resume, a cover letter, and two different reflections on interviews I had with faculty and staff members about my future career as a social worker. I learned a lot about the possibilities of this profession.

About Me

My name is Natalie Stewart and one day I hope to work with children in some capacity. I’m not sure whether or not I want to go into child welfare, the foster-care system, or work for after-school programs/camp and child enrichment programs. Because of my interests, I would like to focus my research on how different factors influence the experience of childhood in different people, and how that shapes their future adult life. Having worked with children in several different capacities for the past several years, I have many anecdotal observations about how different factors effect different children, but it would be interesting to be able to have actual research to either confirm or reshape my personal observations. I hoping this course will give me a good framework on how to go about effective and efficient research methods to accomplish this goal.

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Year in Review

[ “Year in Review”  is where you should reflect on the past year and show how you have evolved as a person and as a student.  You may want to focus on your growth in a particular area (as a leader, scholar, researcher, etc.) or you may want to talk about your overall experience over the past year.  For more information, go to: http://honors-scholars.osu.edu/e-portfolio. Delete these instructions and add your own post.]