last presentations, reflections, & a see y'all later :)

     Wow, the end of the semester. I was actually pretty sad yesterday for our class to end, and let me tell you, I am usually happy for the last day of class. Before I go to my reflection of the class, I will first talk about the presentations this week.
     First, the presentation about the elderly really impacted me. In my other social work class, I had been working on a community needs assessment about the needs of the elderly in Austin. From doing my assessment i learned a lot about the needs of the population. But after the group presentation in class, I realized that all the staff at the agencies I interviewed did not mention the great need of social workers for this population. When I saw the video about the elderly being "forgotten", it made me so upset. But like this class taught me, there is no point in being upset if you're not going to do something about it. Now, after this presentation, I know that for field placement, i will look into agencies that serve the older population.
       The nontraditional students presentation affected me in a very different way. As I mentioned in class, my mother is now a nontraditional student. She is having so complete a Bachelor's degree after being a teacher for 25 years. Crazy right? Seeing this presentation made me feel so proud of my mom! Because I know that things are not that easy when you don't have your parents supporting you or when you have kids and a full time job to do besides school. I called her immediately after class to tell her I loved her and that i am so proud of her! So great job ladies! TNT will be a success :)
     Now, for the sad part. Where can I start. I wanted to express myself in class yesterday but we ran out of time. First of all, I would like to thank everyone for all of your sharing and of the support. This class has completely changed me! I was always shy to speak out in class. In the last three years of college, the only class I have ever raised my hand for was french, because I love the language and I love speaking it! But besides that, I always stayed quiet in class with out saying a thing. This class has given me the strength to speak out. I was able to express myself in front of others like never before. And even if I didn't get to speak in class for some reason, I always had the blogs to express myself. This class also taught me that I can make a different. Before this class, if I would've been asked to create and action plan for an issue, i would've done it but never follow it. But now that i look at the action plan for the low income high schools, I KNOW I CAN MAKE IT HAPPEN, I KNOW I CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE. It makes me feel great to believe in myself and know I can make something like this happen.
     Thank you professor Gerstenblatt, for pushing us and taking out the best out of each and everyone of us. Thank you for all you have given us. You have given us the opportunity to go through a truly amazing journey that we will never forget.
     I look forward to seeing everyone next semester. Have a fun and safe summer and I will see y'all in the fall :)