The end is near!

It's hard to believe that ten weeks ago today marked my first day of graduate school. And yet, here I am, almost on the complete other side of my first quarter of my MSW program. Tonight was my last class of the quarter and next Tuesday I'll take my last final exam to officially end the quarter.

I thought it would be fitting to do a brief recap of what I accomplished this quarter. Let's see how much $4,412 gets you in the School of Social Work:

• First and foremost, I secured my internship for the next 5 quarters at Santa Maria Community Services. Read about that process here, here, and here.
  
• I took a ten-hour online course on Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Theory and developed a set of therapy sessions using the TF-CBT method for treatment of a hypothetical rape victim.
• I analyzed and wrote about the role the media plays in perpetuating crisis in our daily lives.
  
• I learned several different approaches to crisis intervention with a variety of people in a variety of situations.
• I researched and created a presentation on the strengths and weaknesses of the Over-the-Rhine community in Cincinnati.
  
• I researched the topic of same-sex marriage and presented it as part of a larger project on GLBT clients and how their issues pertain to social workers.
• I interviewed a key staff member at Greater Cincinnati Coalition for the Homeless and wrote about the advocacy services they provide in the community.
• I researched and summarized a qualitative community study on community-based loans for expectant mothers in rural Nepal.
• I critiqued a news article that surfaced around the mid-term elections this fall on the Obama Making Work Pay tax cuts.
  
• I researched and critiqued a journal article describing culturally competent strategies for use with African American rape victims.
• I interviewed my nine-year-old friend to learn about developmental tasks and the psychosocial crisis of middle childhood.
  
• I wrote a final paper about the experiences of a member of a racial minority group and how they have affected his human development.
• I researched, wrote, and presented my first ever policy brief. The topic: Violence Against Women Act of 1994.
• I took 3 regular in-class exams; one open-note, open-book final in-class exam; and 4 online exams.

So there you have it. One quarter's worth of work--and that's just the big stuff. This isn't counting the hundreds of pages of reading or the countless hours of studying or the endless nights spent staring at the computer screen. I can't say I've loved every minute of it, but I certainly have learned a lot.

Now for a well-deserved break and a little R & R.