Political Social Work: My Journey Full of Change to Help Others

By Charles Giraldo, Rutgers University School of Social Work, MSW Class of 2024

Iwould not have thought I would become a social worker when initially entering higher education, especially later in life. Initially, my direction was business; social work was nowhere on my compass. Yet, I now hold a Bachelor of Arts in Social Work with a minor in Sociology from Rutgers University–Newark, achieving summa cum laude honors and ranking 1 out of 1,615 in my graduating class in 2022. It was a challenging yet worthwhile experience, one I never imagined reaching when entering college.

I am now in the final year of pursuing a Master of Social Work (MSW) degree specializing in Management and Policy (MAP) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick. My academic journey has fueled my interest in the legislative, policy, and political arenas, and I am actively seeking exciting opportunities in political social work, policymaking, and related fields. I am a seasoned professional with a diverse background in various sectors beyond academia. I have also worked as a general laborer, gaining valuable hands-on experience. Additionally, I was in the military, where I honorably served in the United States Army as Military Police and deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. In addition to my workforce expertise, I have a deep passion for social appreciation, particularly within a professional organization. My focus lies in social work and its intersection with legislation, politics, and policies.

Before considering higher education, I was at a point in my life where no matter how dedicated, long, and hard I worked in my various careers, there were no advancement opportunities for me; many positions required a college degree, and at that juncture, I was experiencing the ‘glass ceiling’ effect. However, this gave me ambition and focus, making me determined to return to school.

Starting as a full-time, non-traditional college student was a challenge, as it had been some time since I graduated high school. To succeed, I needed to relearn many academic practices and habits that had not been part of my daily life in years. Also, I was concerned with majoring in something that would be marketable at my age. While, I had extensive transferable professional skills, I wanted a job where I could use my degree straight out of college. As such, I enrolled in Montclair State University, pursued a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Management of Information and Technology, and minored in Entrepreneurship. I excelled in these courses, but I was not finding a passion for them.

During my second year in college, I got asked by the student veteran School Certifying Official staff to run for the Student Veterans of America (SVA) local school chapter president. After getting elected, I initiated plans that provided valuable assistance to numerous student veterans in navigating the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) system and advocating for their entitled benefits. Moreover, I developed programs that fostered meaningful interactions between the student veteran population and other campus and community organizations, enabling them to extend their services beyond the military. It gave many student veterans, as well as me, a sense of purpose, being able to provide a service to others and empowering student veterans. Toward the end of my SVA presidential term, I thoroughly considered changing my major to one that involved helping others, leading to my decision to switch my major to social work. However, Montclair State did not have an undergraduate degree in social work. So, after researching many schools, I transferred to Rutgers University and, since then, found that it was the best decision I had made. At that moment, I knew I wanted to become a social worker to help other veterans at the VA, and I also knew that I needed to get my MSW to achieve that dream.

Toward my undergraduate senior year, one of my most outstanding achievements was an internship at the National Association of Social Workers – New Jersey Chapter, where I was able to understand better how social workers help others in a macro setting. I knew I could apply what I learned in the macro social work setting to help veterans. The NASW internship gave me a robust understanding of what many communities need from legislation and policies to achieve a larger-scale change. Although my initial goal was to work at the VA, and the MSW clinical track would be the way to gain employment there, my decision to pursue the MSW in MAP was a better fit for me. This decision was based on the changes I wanted to make at the macro level—a level involving legislation, policies, and politics. Moreover, I want to make a difference that affects communities in the masses. Consequently, I am performing policy research, policy evaluation, policy development, and policy advocacy in my studies, as well as writing and promoting legislative bills from my advocacy, outreach, and interagency collaboration efforts. I hope these actions will help legislators make better policy decisions to bring changes that help communities in need. And I cannot think of a better way to spend the latter part of my career than pursuing something I am passionate about while helping others.