2021届毕业生:道格·斯塔利珀

道格。斯特里普 is a 社会工作 major from Westminster, 马里兰.

当我踏上国会山的第一步时，我是: 除了紧张, even though and also because I am a proud combat veteran with a 15-year career as a paratrooper in the United States Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. I enlisted in May of 2001 and graduated basic training on September 5, 2001, 9/11恐怖袭击前六天. I would see four combat deployments in 15 years: Afghanistan 2002-2003, 伊拉克2003 - 2004, 阿富汗2007 - 2008, 2010-2011年和阿富汗. 我的背摔了两次, once on a parachute operation and once in combat operations, 我因医疗原因被开除了. When deciding what I would use my GI Bill benefits for, 就学位路径而言, I wanted to choose a major that would allow me to not only peruse a career that would allow me to use my education, but also my experiences in the service to help veterans who experienced what I had experienced. 事实证明，临床社会工作是答案. Still, I was truly nervous taking those first steps back into college life.

The me who will ring the Old Main bell on Commencement Day is: 意志坚定，目标明确，雄心勃勃. 中士会在我身边, my 9-month-old yellow Lab puppy who has accompanied me to my field placement and hopefully will be a part of my clinical practice. I lost my dog of 15 years in July of 2020 and decided it was time for a new companion a few months later. 我是11月11日去接他的. 退伍军人节——2020年.

真实世界经验: Besides my life experiences as a paratrooper, I’ve done three internships in 社会工作. 在三个中, my favorite was this year’s field placement at a substance abuse recovery center, 清醒的真理, 在Taneytown, 马里兰. Since picking 军士 up, he has accompanied me about half a dozen times to 清醒的真理. Hopefully I will be able to continue bringing him to my next field placement at the VA for my master’s program and even later in life in my career. I had two other internships at Shepherd’s Staff and On Our Own, both in Westminster, 马里兰.

啊哈时刻: That there is a specific and allocated time to accomplish what you are meant to accomplish in life, 成功.

我在山上留下的脚印 I hope that through classes that I have shared with juniors, and even seniors – seeing that I am quite a bit older than the average student in my cohort – my stories about life lived, 逆境, and resiliency would be something that they can take with them and apply to the difficult times that are surely ahead in their paths.

对我影响最大的教授: 毫无疑问. 凯茜Orzolek-Kronner. She was the first professor I met with before even attending McDaniel. I had the idea that social work would lead to the career in which I was hoping to work. 作为系主任, she agreed to meet with me and after describing my profession goals, I will never forget what she said to me when I asked if social work was the right fit. 她回答说:“天空是极限.”

我的导师. 对生活.: 我的父亲. From a very young age he instilled within me the importance of hard work, 谦卑, 尊重, 帮助别人.

史上最佳课堂: While I enjoyed just about every class while at McDaniel, the two that stick out most to me are Addictive Behaviors with professor Michael Dvorak and Action Methods in 社会工作 with professor Gary Honeman.

我在校园里最喜欢的地方: Either the commuter lounge or the bottom floor of the library. 我有很多, many hours logged in these locations and I appreciate the quiet and solitude that it offers, which allowed me to accomplish hours of work and reading.

我在金沙js6038学到的最令人难以置信的想法: That after a failed attempt at college many years ago (2000-2001), it was completely possible to come back later in life and 成功 complete my undergrad work while also setting me up for my graduate work.

我顶石: My senior-year field placement at 清醒的真理 Recovery Center.

内容简介: 清醒的真理 is an outpatient treatment facility that helps those in early sobriety to begin their road to recovery.

顶石翻译: 清醒的真理 was the perfect fit for me given both my desire to work with the substance abuse population and my experience with past substance abuse in my own life. This experience was able to give me the ability to lend my clients both knowledge from my education and a hefty side of empathy from my experience.

接下来是什么: I will be attending University of 马里兰 School of 社会工作’s Advanced Standing program in the fall for my master’s degree. This program will be accompanied by a rigorous field placement which will be at the VA Medical Center in Perry Point. 对于这个现场布置, I will be working in the substance abuse field with veterans, a population which I wish to serve in my new and upcoming career. The ability to use this GI Bill benefit in order to obtain degrees and a career in a field where I can give back to the veteran community is beyond satisfying and exactly what I was looking for. To say that I am excited about my future and what it holds would be an understatement.