Sheer Determination
"I had a hard time getting here," says Angie Losey, UNCG senior majoring in Social Work. "I got here through sheer determination."
Angie came to UNCG after finishing a hard-won two-year degree from GTCC. She had not gone to college after high school, even though it was what she'd planned for. "There was no money to send me," she remembers. "I was devastated." She went to work managing a Hallmark store and began taking classes part-time at the community college, finding it hard to pay bills. She married, and it became even harder to continue her classes. "I dropped out three times and finished about two semesters' work in three years," she recalls.
At 26, Angie made a real commitment to finish her AA in pre-Speech/Communications. "Education was going to be Number 1," she decided. Her marriage ended, and she changed her work schedule to accommodate school, waiting tables and tending bar at night. The commitment paid off. "School is my element," she observes. "I like to learn. Before school I felt in limbo-- I didn't feel good about myself."
Continuing at UNCG for her bachelor's degree has not been easy either, even after she completed her associate's program. "If Financial Aid hadn't come through, I wouldn't be here," she admits. She was eligible for a Pell grant initially, and after doing well academically she was awarded additional scholarship money, including a Ratchford Scholarship for adults without other support for their college work.
Found Her Calling
"One thing about adult students is that they have thought about what they want to do," Angie notes. "They're not just interested in making money like some people are right out of high school." Angie decided on Social Work by talking to people with jobs she liked--substance abuse counselors, therapists, people working for nonprofit agencies. "I found out what degree I needed," she says. "Every year here I feel more strongly that I know exactly what I'm supposed to do with my life."
Her major has proved to be just as rewarding as she'd hoped. "Social Work is a well-rounded program," Angie maintains. "We learn how to find resources (including by Internet research), how to develop policy, and how to look at a situation and figure out what's right and what's wrong with it." A cultural diversity component of the curriculum helps students understand how conflicts can occur as a result of collisions between differing cultures. Social Work classes require community involvement right from the start, and Angie has held volunteer positions at the Women's Resource Center and at Guilford County's Alcohol and Drug Services office as part of her course work.
"I like fast-paced crisis situations," Angie notes, and her senior internship in the Moses Cone Emergency Department fits the bill. For 16 hours a week, she joins a team of doctors, nurses, and social workers to help people in crisis. She is learning what services are available in Greensboro and will eventually have cases of her own to manage, with the help of her supervisor. "I got lucky," she says of her placement at Moses Cone, though she herself helped to make her own luck when she expressed interest in medical social work to one of her professors. "Our internships are closely monitored," Angie reports, " to make sure we're getting the skills we need to fit into the workforce."
Took Advantage of the Study Abroad Program
"I knew what I wanted to do when I came to UNCG," Angie recalls. "I really put my nose to the grindstone and didn't go out for a year and a half." One of her professors told her, "you have to have some fun and Scotland is where you'll start," referring to UNCG's summer exchange program at the University of Strathclyde in Scotland. Angie was one of 10 students chosen to spend 5 weeks studying how Scotland provides social services.
"I'd never been abroad before," Angie says. "We had to apply right after September 11 and my mom didn't want me to fly so far, but it kept digging at me and I knew I had to do it. . . . I was ecstatic when I got the e-mail that I'd been accepted." In Scotland, she lived in a dorm ("my first experience in a dorm," she says, "it was great,") and immersed herself in the local culture as well as her work.
"I'd go everywhere if I could," Angie affirms. "I really thought it was awesome" to gain insights into another culture and a different way of doing things. "If we took the best of both systems [American and Scottish] and put it together, we'd really make it work," she concludes. What better way to enhance awareness of cultural diversity?
In addition to schoolwork and her internship, Angie has taken on another set of responsibilities her senior year that require an hour or two of her time a day. She serves as president of the collegiate chapter of her professional organization, The National Association of Social Workers. "I knew I wanted to get involved,C she says of her decision to attend a meeting her junior year. Her involvement grew and now, as president, she finds herself a delegate to meetings of the Student Government Association. She also plans activities and service projects for her organization, such as their participation in Greensboro's Winter Walk for Aids and a possible "Stop the Hate" awareness campaign at UNCG, a program she learned about at a recent campus leadership conference.
Experience has Led to a Balance in Her Life
"School doesn't happen in a vacuum," a graduate student in her department told her. "Neither your school work nor your life should dominate the other." "I'm learning it now," says Angie, as she balances the demands of her class work, her internship, and all her out-of-class activities, including e-mail correspondence with friends she met in Scotland. "What I tell everybody is that life is about the experience. Live it to the fullest and don't let fear get in the way."
Her determination to get the college degree she's always wanted has brought her opportunities to expand her knowledge, to develop leadership through service, and to acquire the qualifications she needs to do the work she wants to do. If life seems a little TOO full sometimes, Angie wouldn't have it any other way.
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Page updated: 06-May-2009
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