I was actually on leave on my birthday, so no work for me! Haven't really had that in awhile so that was nice. A bonus was that my Mom and Chris were out here for a 2 week visit (well Mom had 2 weeks out here and Chris had 1). The first week, Mom stayed with Marcia and David due to my work requirements. Their visit was really low key, nothing big was planned. Just did whatever we felt like while they were out here. Saw a baseball game, checked out the Olympic Park up in Park City and just hung out. It was relaxing.
Mom and Chris flew back on a Thursday so I went to work that next day so I wasn't wasting my days off. One of the airmen that I work with made me the cutest cupcakes for my birthday!
We are having a mouse problem in our warehouse and with me being Public Health I'm quick to point out and nag when food is being left out and other things that my attract mice. Right now our mouse count/kill is at 5. We had a couple of other airmen make this mouse trap... and it works!
In the middle of the bucket is a can covered in peanut butter on a string. In the bucket is water. We've got a couple in here, and a few in regular traps. They are very cute mice :( but ugh... not a fan of mouse poop on my desk!
Later on that Friday we went out to lunch for my birthday. To make that even more special was that three airman on their day off came to celebrate with us! That meant more to me than they probably realize. These airman were on leave, and they don't even live near by and they came out for my birthday lunch! Made me feel appreciated and good!
Now on to the new rough draft/life plan. On that same Friday of birthday festivities, I was inquiring about a Public Health Officer slot. I was sent the requirements and since I don't have a Masters in Public Health, they had other requirements if I was applying with a bachelor's degree. I did not meet those requirements with my BA in Social Science (there were about 8 or so classes that were required :( If I did have a MPH it would have to be from an accredited program, and it listed which programs and schools would meet this criteria. I looked up the program that I was in and it wasn't! Ugh... this is partly my fault but whatever it's still irritating. I'm only 2 classes in so, it's not too painful to get out. Talked with the school about not be accredited, the school IS but NOT the program I was in. Of course they want me to stay, they are working towards accreditation but it's a process, they need students in the program and it's about a 5 year process (they just started). So I researched some more and if and when they are accredited, if I got my MPH with them I would NOT be grandfathered into accreditation! So I'm done with that line of education.
So now what.....
While working on my BA, my main classes were psychology, sociology, and anthropology.... all of which are interesting to me. I've kept the social work career in the back of my mind as a possibility. While gearing up for this homeland security mission certain conversations and incidences had me thinking about crisis counseling for mass causality incidents, not only for the victims themselves but also the EMS workers. This thought process brought me around to thinking of my fellow military members and their mental health struggles and also the veterans. There is a Masters of Science for Mental Health Counseling but with all my research thus far and talking with others the Masters of Social Work gives one more opportunity and also when looking at jobs there are more for social workers than mental health counselors. Having a MSW will allow me to do mental health counseling but a MS in Counseling will NOT allow me to do social work. So.... Here I go attempting to get a MSW.
Now here's the problem/issue. A MSW is not one of those programs that is easily done online. In fact only 2 schools (that are accredited and are a fit my future work goals) have online programs but that is for only part of the program. There is an internship that I have to do. These schools will allow me to do my internship where ever I'm living at, so that's cool. There is of course the University of Utah, but there is no online program for that. So I'm going to apply to all three schools and see what I get into. The schools go from expensive, to more expensive, to oh my goodness I'm going to die with student loans expensive.
In order of "I hope to get accepted" is:
University of Utah
Boston University
University of Southern California
I have this upcoming week off for leave and I'll be working on my application essays and other requirements. If money was not a concern I'd want to attend USC, they are the only ones that have a sub concentration that focuses on military issues. But we will see.
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