Survivor PhD: The First Year

I am very happy to be done with my first year. Somehow I survived
it. It was really a roller coaster ride – I began with a lot of
confidence and idealism and went lower than I could have imagined
before being able to see the light at the end again. Thankfully I have
so many great and encouraging people around supporting me, or truly I
might not have continued on.

With the end of the first school year is also the beginning of an
exciting new summer. First was a social justice conference in my
hometown last weekend, a mixed bag in many ways but I did get a few
important things out of it. The best of it all was the collaboration
with three other colleagues with whom I created and presented a new
workshop. The workshop was quite experimental but it went
well and we are thinking about ways to take this "on the road."

A few weeks ago I also met up with a former professor at the social work
department where I received my BSW and he asked if I wanted to teach
next year.

Then, yesterday I received news about my funding for next year. I
will receive a 50% graduate research position in a child welfare
project funded by the Children's Bureau, researching a county's
implementation of social services for children and families. And I had word that the local small agency that I
have been consulting for this spring was
awarded some funding and I was hired to do their program
evaluation.

It will be an exciting and busy year.