University of Southern Maine
USM is far enough away from home for me to be independent, but close enough that I can go home if I want. People I’ve met here are fantastically open-minded; we share the same interests.
You get to empower people. I love working with people. You get to show them how to do what they need to do to help themselves, whether it’s help with domestic abuse, working with a temp agency to get a job, or finding government services. It’s an extremely broad field.
In your final year, social work majors have a massive fieldwork commitment, 16 hours every week. Portland is a great place for that. There are a lot of opportunities there.
I’m in the honors program. I took an economics class with Michael Hilliard. He was really thorough in covering the material and applying it to real life. We talked about things like the recession and global politics, and Walmart and the Chinese labor force. He also brought in the local community, too, talking about the wood industry and Maine loggers. That was great for the Maine kids. Some of them have family members in that industry, and they understand mill life.
There’s a lot more diversity than I expected. I’m from small-town New Hampshire, and diversity is not a word you throw around a lot. I was pleasantly surprised. It seemed strange: here I was, going up to Maine, not expecting to meet a lot of different people. The school is almost like a meeting place for people from all walks of life. As a social worker, the more different people you get to know, the better off you are. You learn about the experiences they have, and that’s really enriching.
My work with the Gorham Events Board takes up a lot of time. It is great experience. I’m learning to do event planning, catering to what students want to see on campus. Thursday night programming has been a blast. I’ve had the chance to work with entertainers, like Bob Marley. And we’ve held spoken word poetry slams, which are a blast.
I chose to live in Anderson Hall, on the substance-free floor. It’s a really great group of people. The kids living there find things in common without partying, and they’re free to be who they are.
I’d suggest kids look into the honors program. It’s absolutely fantastic. They’re small classes, like maybe 10 kids. In one class we had four kids. You get to interact with the teacher, symposium style. You’re not lectured to all the time. Anything that sounds interesting is probably a great time.
Mexicali Blues, a little clothing, jewelry and gift shop, in the Old Port. And there’s a really good Indian restaurant on Exchange Street, Tandoor.
I’m really interested in the children-and-families aspect of social work, something along the lines of the Center for Grieving Children. I’d definitely consider staying in Portland. It’s an alternative sort of city. It has the hustle and bustle of a city, but you drive for 20 minutes and you’re out in the country. And it’s not as intense as a place like New York.
