How a sociology degree shaped my career in human services

¶ … UMass

When I first began my studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston, I had no idea how much that experience would dramatically alter the course of my life. Prior to entering the University of Massachusetts Boston, I had worked for ten years as a paralegal. While I found my job interesting and fulfilling, I longed to make a larger contribution to the world about me. I also wanted to learn more about the world I lived in, and the people who populated it. A major in sociology at the University of Massachusetts Boston was an obvious choice.

A worked hard during university, and graduated with honors four years after I began my program. During that time, I was actively involved in the university community. I participated in study groups with my peers, volunteered with student council, had interesting discussions with my professors, and participated in a number of extracurricular activities. This involvement gave me a true appreciation of the power of an inclusive community that revolved around ideas of respect and tolerance.

My studies at University of Massachusetts Boston gave me a much greater insight into the social issues that I had encountered as a paralegal. As a paralegal, many of my clients were individuals with few socioeconomic resources. I could often help then with specific legal issues, but I lacked a greater understanding of many of the factors that brought them to my door in search of legal assistance. As a trained sociologist, I began to understand complex factors that led to social stratification in American society. As such, I began to better understand the driving forces that had brought many of my clients to need legal aid.

A graduated from University of Massachusetts Boston with a strong desire to help better the lives of those people I had encountered as a paralegal. At the same time, I remained unsure of how I could best make a contribution. My sociology degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston had given me tremendous insight into social issues, and an appreciation for the importance of an effective community. At the same time, I struggled with how to best make a contribution in larger society. The problems of poverty and racism often seemed almost insurmountable, and I fought hard to overcome a feeling that there was little that one person could do to make an impact. I wondered how I could bring the lessons of tolerance and respect learned from the university community at the University of Massachusetts Boston into a larger society that often seemed mired in intolerance and hopelessness.

In time, I took a position as a human services worker with a non-profit organization in Boston. As a human services worker, I helped people in the local community find assistance for problems with welfare, health, mental health, family issues, and drug and alcohol abuse. I relatively little money, but each and every day I could see the positive impact that I was making in the lives of my clients. At the same time, I could see a pressing need for higher level administrators with a solid academic basis and a true understanding of the difficulties of those in lower socioeconomic brackets.

After several years working as a human services worker, I became frustrate with what I perceived as a lack of compassion and insight in many federal funding decisions that impacted my clients. This motivated me to return to university to receive my master's degree.