Field Experience: Building My Skills and Strengthening My Applications

by Gemma Ortega

One year ago, I knew I wanted to get a masters in social work, but I had no work experience in this area. Field experience helps graduate programs see that you have worked towards enhancing skills that are essential for success. If I wanted to be a competitive applicant for social work programs, I had to gain relevant experience. Fortunately, just as I was in the middle of a job search where I would work directly with members of the community, Kim sent all lab members a flyer for students who were interested in working with children and their families on Title 1 elementary school campus. This quickly caught my interest. It felt like it was an opportunity that fell right into my hands, so I took my chances and applied for this position.

The application process went well, and I became a program specialist for the Reinventing Integrated Student Supports in Educational Environments (RISsEe) grant. One of my responsibilities was to coordinate whole-school programming aligned to student, family, and community needs. I worked closely with the school social worker to identify what resources children in our school needed the most. Once we established the needs of the students and their families, I contacted non-profit organizations asking them to provide these services. For example, to address social and emotional needs of the students, I contacted Girls on the Run, a non-profit organization that aims to enhance participants’ social, emotional, and physical skills. Through this non-profit, we were able to start an after-school program that taught girls how to deal with conflict, manage and communicate their emotions, and develop healthy coping mechanisms for life stressors.

Another responsibility I had was to work with small groups of students and individual students who needed additional behavioral, social-emotional, and wellness support. I helped the school psychologist and school counselor create a behavioral plan, and then my role was to spend one-on-one time with children to address their behavior. From this experience, I was able to observe how treatment plans are developed and how school counselors and psychologist evaluate the needs of children with behavioral problems.

The different responsibilities of a program specialist helped me develop skills needed to be a social worker, and I also gained experiences that will strengthen my graduate school applications. In particular, I cherished working so closely with the school social worker. She and I built a strong relationship, and she became someone I could go to for more insight on the field. We often discussed her career as a social worker. From these conversations, I had a clearer image of what a social worker does in their day-to-day job. Additionally, I really valued the opportunity to work directly with children. Understanding children and their needs is a difficult task. We often misinterpret disruptive behavior and give it a label rather than try to understand the motives behind it. From my experiences as a program specialist, I realized that I want to focus on working with children and their families to strengthen their relationships.

After one year of working as a program specialist for the RISsEe grant, I have experience in contacting community resources, coordinating whole-school programing, and working directly with children. These experiences made me a strong applicant for my new job at Boys Town, a nonprofit organization that provides direct services to families and their children. If you are thinking about applying to graduate school, I strongly encourage you to get relevant work experience: to build your skills, to decide if this is the area you want to focus on, and to make your application stand out.

Gemma joined the Interactive Measurement Group in the Spring of 2021. During her time in the lab, she has learned how to analyze data in R, SPSS, and Jamovi, has learned advanced statistical techniques such as confirmatory factor analysis, and has led two poster teams who ultimately presented their research at conferences. She has also been involved in substantial leadership and mentoring. She has given multiple workshops, mentored other lab members formally and informally, and is currently our Lab Manager. Gemma graduated in the Spring of 2022 from UNLV with a B.A. in psychology and minors in neuroscience and addictions treatment. In the future, she hopes to pursue a masters degree in social work.