Friday, May 04, 2018
A retired U.S. Army sergeant major believes the field of social work is a “calling” to help others.
Social work senior Victor Allen will obtain a bachelor’s degree in social work this month and was recognized as the BSW field student of the year.
Allen has been accepted to the UTA Master of Social Work program and will begin in the fall. He hopes to improve his writing and research skills necessary for the next step in life, he said.
Getting the right mindset to succeed and blocking out distractions was difficult for him during his journey to a bachelor’s degree, Allen said. He credits his religion, University faculty and his family in providing a framework to succeed in college.
The military embraces the idea of taking care of the troops, and this university follows this model in supporting and communicating with veterans, he said.
Allen felt that he was always a “servant” during his military career as he trained enlisted men and mentored officers.
He plans to continue that role by applying for a position at the Veteran Affairs, taking a teaching job or other doing other work to help people after completing his master’s degree.
“I just want to give back and hopefully impart wisdom and knowledge about some of the mistakes I made, so I can give back and teach people to not make those same mistakes,” Allen said. “That’s my whole goal in life at this point.”