Madeline Homer's fieldwork placement at Preparatory Charter School in South Philadelphia helped her to determine which career path was right for her. The recent School of Social Work graduate, who also chaired School of Social Work’s chapter of the National Social Work Honor Society during her senior year, says she “absolutely fell in love with working with kids” during this experience.

The placement tasked her with responsibilities that included weekly counseling sessions with students to improve their social and emotional skills; organizing health fairs; creating career planning materials; and other miscellaneous tasks that supported the school’s students. She now plans to pursue a master’s degree in special education through Temple’s Teacher Residency.

While she knew she wanted to pursue a degree in social work, Homer had previously struggled to determine exactly what she wanted to do with her degree before this experience. At one point, she considered attending law school to pursue a policy-oriented career—but after a handful of internships, she realized that she missed the connection of working face-to-face with individuals.

Homer’s struggles to find the perfect career for her were briefly compounded by the COVID-19 lockdown during her sophomore year, which made it difficult to find internships and meet other students. While the campus was shut down, Homer joined the Beta Rho Chapter of Alpha Delta Mu, otherwise known as the National Social Work Honor Society—an organization that brings social work students together to collaborate and give back to the community. Although she originally joined to make friends during the lockdown, Homer was asked to become the organization’s president a year later.

“Our slogan is ‘Advocate for the People,’ and it's a space for social work majors to come together and find a community within social work,” she explains. During her tenure, the organization has participated in monthly community service events, including block clean-ups, letter-writing campaigns during the holidays, and fundraising for the nonprofit 100 Black Men of America.

Now that Homer has a plan for the future, she recognizes the National Social Work Honor Society’s positive impact on her life. “I can confidently say that Alpha Delta Mu has brought me every single thing that I have accomplished in social work,” Homer says. “I even met my partner and my best friend through the organization. If you’re a social work major, you should absolutely join. It’s a beautiful space for people to give back to the community, while also taking care of each other.”