A social work senior is the only student winner in a national essay contest sponsored by the National Association of Social Workers.
Megan Salisbury is one of two overall winners of the “Restoring Hope: The Power of Social Work” essay contest; the other winner is a professional in the field. Students and professionals were prompted to write a short essay about why they believe social work is the field of hope.
Salisbury drew on her experiences searching the streets for homeless veterans during a project. She was awarded an iPad in recognition of her essay.
“We received many, many hope essays from around the country. Megan’s essay clearly stood above the rest as it captured her passion for restoring hope in others,” National Association of Social Workers Executive Director Elizabeth Clark said via email.
Salisbury was inspired to major in social work after living in New York City. Her passion lies in helping the homeless because she wants to help individuals who need a second chance, she said. She has been involved with Central Arizona Shelter Services for more than two years, as well as volunteering with other groups and causes.
In her essay, she reflected on one morning spent helping homeless veterans receive the medical care they needed:
“Every individual we talked to that morning was offered a compassionate, understanding, and dignified second chance at rebuilding his or her life,” she wrote. “We also offered them a foundation to build the strength we saw in each of them that day through forging new and once unforeseen helping relationships with some of our most vulnerable community members.”
Social work professor Dominique Roe-Sepowitz said that ASU promotes the idea that everyone has the capacity to change somewhere within them.
“The School of Social Work has a unique philosophy; we’re very forward-thinking. We encourage our students to help their clients make positive decisions,” Roe-Sepowitz said. “They help people believe that they have the ability and opportunity to change.”
Salisbury agreed with Roe-Sepowitz but suggested that ASU could do more to help the homeless often seen around campus, citing a policy prohibiting non-students and staff from using buildings on the Downtown campus.
“Most of the time, especially in the 100-degree-plus weather of the summer months, people just want a place to sit down for 30 minutes or access to a drinking fountain. There are still a lot of barriers for the disadvantaged,” Salisbury said.
However, Salisbury sees situations like these as opportunities for improvement, rather than reasons to despair.
“The crux of social work is promoting conversation and community. Social workers have the ability to spark dialogue about how to change,” she said.
Salisbury said her belief is that monetary income shouldn’t be someone’s goal in pursuing a career. Social work is a very humbling field, Salisbury said, noting social workers’ ability to relate to the population they work with on some level.
Social work graduate student Molli Gilchrist agreed with Salisbury that social workers don’t do their jobs for the money.
“They don’t return day in and day out for praise or financial rewards,” Gilchrist said. “But they do so because they know what they do can ultimately make a difference in someone’s life.”
Contact the reporter at kimberly.koerth@asu.edu
