Social Work Doctoral Student Amanda Barczyk
I have been lucky enough to mentor two students, Amelia Popham and Ada Mi-Sedhi. Both were able to work on a study under the advisement of Dr. Sanna Thompson and myself on homeless adolescents who use alcohol and other substances. Ada, my first mentee, was able to see the development of our semi-structured interviews with homeless adolescents, transcribe interviews, witness the development of codes, create tables from SPSS output and see how a poster presentation is developed. Amelia, my second mentee, assisted in writing sections of the qualitative paper and creating poster presentations. Both students will be a part of the publications that come from this study. Aside from assisting with research, Ada and Amelia interviewed faculty, MSWs and JDs in the community to learn about the broad array of options individuals in the field of social work can pursue. I also gave them advice on applying to graduate programs. I really enjoyed the experience and learned a lot about what it takes to be a good mentor. I hope that other students have the opportunity to participate in this internship and I plan on working to increase awareness of it in the School of Social Work.