Cheryl Bogdan
Queens Library, Queens, NY
Cheryl Bogdan, who received her MSW in 2012, grew up in a warm, loving home in Queens where money was scarce but family and community were essential to her nurturing. The daughter of a factory worker, she became the first in her family to graduate high school and was determined to give back. Today she works in adult education at the Queens Library, where her employer provides classes in English as a Second Language (ESL) and Pre-High School Equivalency (HSE) for individuals seeking their high school diplomas.
Social work excites me because I get to work with individuals and families during their times of hardship, and through our work together I am able to see clients overcome great challenges. I feel fulfilled working in our Adult Ed programs because they are truly grassroots social service models. They are based in Queens, where I grew up, allowing me to give back to the community that empowered me to develop personally and enhanced my professional success.
The skill I never realized I’d need is the strength to keep doing the work that I do and determination to stay in the field. I feel that developing specific self-care techniques and being your own advocate is a skill that all social workers must develop throughout their careers.
My professional role model is Mimi Abramovitz, the writer, educator and activist who has focused on civil and welfare rights, particularly women’s rights. I deeply admire her work. When thinking about my own long-term professional career goals I would like to teach social work and advance some of the research found in her academic writings.
The most critical thing I learned in social work school is something that sounds very cliché -- to meet the client where the client is. This is probably one of the most important if not the most important skill that I teach to social work students. It’s important to begin here, otherwise the working relationship will not be balanced and the client’s goals will not be their own.
Social work is so much more than just handling cases. What most people don’t realize is the amount of “ourselves” that we put into our work. I am a big advocate of utilizing yourself in working with clients. This is what makes your work unique and makes it possible for you to relate to your client’s needs.
My passion for grassroots community-based social work programs helped me in school and in my career, as I am able to develop social programs and tailor them to meet individual needs of a community and help individuals and families from a deeply holistic and humanistic perspective.
Cheryl is Vice President of the Graduate School of Social Work’s Alumni Association and a founding member of the Association, as well as a founding member of the school’s Alumni Leadership Council.
