天美传媒

by Rebecca Endres 鈥�15

This year the social work students at the have continued their dedication to working聽outside the classroom, participating in community service and聽working closely with the Suffolk Division of the National Association聽of Social Workers (NASW).

The NASW division chose to honor a graduating Hauppauge聽student as the NASW Student of the Year, said Lynne Shulman,聽director of the Hauppauge Center social work program. The 2015聽honoree is Fleeton Allan, M.S.W. 鈥�15.

In addition, Hauppauge students have a history of being deeply聽dedicated to community service and, according to students, have聽participated in toy drives, suicide prevention awareness walks, coat聽drives and bake sales.

This winter, the Social Work Student Association made an alliance聽with a team of bikers, the Demon Knights, to collect toys for a drive.听鈥淥ne of our student鈥檚 father is a member of the Demon Knights and聽they hold an annual toy drive. They were looking for somewhere聽to donate the toys,鈥� said Joanne Quinn-Beers, student affairs聽coordinator at the Hauppauge Center.

That鈥檚 where yet another connection came in. Students also聽reached out to the Long Island Women鈥檚 Empowerment Network,聽which had provided student field placements. 鈥淭hey were happy to聽get toys for the holidays since they have a large number of children聽in their shelter,鈥� Quinn-Beers stated.

All of these experiences and opportunities to be active in the聽community offer students a taste of what it means to be involved聽in advocating for others. It also provides an excellent occasion for聽bonding outside of the classroom.

鈥淢ost of our students go through the master鈥檚 program as part of聽a group. They are able to form close and supportive relationships聽with their classmates and the faculty,鈥� Quinn-Beers said. 鈥淚 think聽this allows our students to really explore the profession and their聽future as social workers in a supportive atmosphere.鈥�

鈥淲e have a bunch of students who are about to graduate and聽make their mark,鈥� Shulman added. 鈥淚t鈥檚 always very exciting to see聽students really mature, gain their sense of professionalism and聽skills and go out into the field.鈥�