Social work students cited for field work

Working closely with school, church and community leaders, health providers and other professionals, students of the George Warren Brown School of Social Work provided nearly a quarter million hours of volunteer services during the 1997-98 academic year, according to estimates by the school's Office of Field Education.

During May 15 Commencement ceremonies, six of those students will be honored with the 1997-98 Dr. Clara Louise Myers Outstanding Practicum Student Award and another will receive the Shirlee Fink Kahn Award for exemplary volunteer service in the St. Louis community.

"We are proud of the contributions our graduate students make to planning, delivery and evaluation of social services in the greater St. Louis community," said Therese Dent, Ph.D., assistant dean for field education.

Each master's student is required to spend at least 1,000 hours in a field education project of his or her choosing. Many students volunteer more hours than necessary, and some contribute as many as 1,500 hours during the course of their education. All work under the close supervision of an on-site professional with an advanced degree in social work or a related discipline.

Practica have taken students to American Indian reservations across the county, to social service agencies and political headquarters in Washington, D.C., and to projects as far away as Thailand. Although students can propose field education projects anywhere in the world, most do the majority of their field work in the St. Louis area, Dent said.

Outstanding Practicum awards are given to one graduate student in each of the school's five major areas of academic concentration. The sixth practicum award goes to a master of social work student who has designed an individualized practicum project to meet personal education and career objectives. To be eligible, recipients must graduate during the current academic year.

Field instructors, faculty and the students themselves nominate candidates for the outstanding practicum awards, which recognize students whose practicum projects have demonstrated self-motivation, professional growth, teamwork, responsibility and a concern for client welfare.

The 1997-98 outstanding practicum winners by area of concentration are:

Health: Sophia Flynn Stanford, for work with critically ill patients in clinics operated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Supervisors credit Stanford with "tenacity and determination" and a "very high level of professional competence in working with very complicated situations."

Mental Health: Tracy Bronik, for field work with a chemical dependency services clinic at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. Bronik developed an innovative treatment program for alcohol- and drug-dependent clients, some of whom also suffer from schizophrenia and other mental problems.

Children and Youth: Angel Yuen, for practicum projects with the obstetrics and gynecology outpatient clinic at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and with New York Foundling, a New York City-based skilled nursing facility for children. Yuen carried out her responsibilities in a "self-motivated and highly professional manner" while exhibiting a high degree of "dedication to families and children," noted one supervisor.

Gerontology: Mor Schwarz, for her work with senior citizens and the Boone County Council on Aging in Columbia, Mo. "Mor's caring and accepting attitude is valued by all of her clients," wrote a supervisor at the council, which offers free assistance to older adults struggling to remain independent in their own homes. "She listens with her ears, mind and heart and hears what is being said by more than just words."

Social and Economic Development: Sarah Hicks, for work as a social services assistant in the Indian Child Welfare program of the Bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C., and for two practicum projects working with low-income residents in the Forest Park Southeast neighborhood, where she won praise for developing new neighborhood programs, including a job fair for community residents.

Individualized Concentration: Cobi Weikel, for practica exploring the use of information management techniques to organize resource and referral systems for non-profit organizations. For the United Way of Greater St. Louis, she developed a classification system and database for a nonprofit resource center to be used by nonprofit organizations across the region. She also worked with the National Children's Cancer Society and the Alzheimer's Association.

Maria Munguia-Wellman is the 1997-98 recipient of the Kahn Award, which is given annually to a graduating student who has provided exceptional volunteer services to the local community over and above field work normally required of all social work students. Munguia-Wellman earned the award for volunteer work with a wide range of community organizations, including a Hispanic youth group that she helped found two years ago. Munguia-Wellman also is involved with dozens of other local, regional and national non-profit and community service organizations.