Holly Hoffman (’16) is member of the UVM Tower Society, a class-wide senior honor society for women and other marginalized identities. Holly is a Social Work intern at Mosaic Learning Center, and a Special Education intern at Mansfield Hall. Both of these experiences focus on working with people who have developmental disabilities. She is actively involved in the UVM Outing Club, serving as a UVM TREK Leader and Coordinator of WILD (Wilderness Instructor Leadership Development). Holly is leaving a lasting mark on the Social Work program through her development of the Junior Social Work Retreat. As the leader of this experiential event with her peers and faculty, she was able to combine outdoor education and social work values, demonstrating how these fields could blend together effectively.
Please explain your interest in social work, and why it inspires you.
"I have always been fascinated by human connection and wanted to do something with my life that had that value in its core. When deciding what to pursue in college, I knew that I wanted to work with people, but wasn't sure in what way. Someone told me that social work could be a good fit for me. I learned that the profession itself sees the strengths in the individuals and populations it serves, and uses that inherent resiliency to rebuild their lives. I wholeheartedly agree that individuals are the experts on their own stories, and that each story has a right to be heard. I felt that those professional values matched my personal values and made me really interested. Through service learning, field practicums, part-time jobs and internships I have harnessed new skills and have taken theory into practice."
Please share a memorable story about your experience with CESS so far.
"The moment that sticks out to me is the completion of the Junior Social Work Retreat that I created and helped to facilitate. I spent months working with faculty and having conversations with my peers about the need for a nonacademic program that could reinforce the cohort model in the BSW program. I looked at outdoor education and social work values, and how those fields could effectively blend together. Through drafts of itineraries and presentations, the pilot of the retreat fell into place. Amazing does not begin to describe the feeling of seeing something you created actually happen. When juniors who participated in the retreat came up to me after and said they thought it was a great experience, it was just the icing on the cake! When facing a new challenge in creating something new, whether it is in the classroom or in the field, I will remember this feeling."
Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?
"My dream would be to successfully complete my education and still feel motivated to continue to learn. I hope to have traveled the world and to have continued to meet incredible people. My dream job would be to run an alternative wilderness therapeutic school program for young women in a beautiful mountainous place. I see myself working either with young women or individuals with differences in ability in a setting that combines my love for the outdoors. I hope to have made some impact with my work and to have made a positive difference in someone's life."
What is an interest you have outside of your studies? Do you ever bring that passion into your academic and professional work?
"One of my biggest passions besides social work is the outdoors. At UVM I have not only found a home in CESS but also in the UVM Outing Club. There I serve as Co-Head House Manager and Coordinator for a leadership development program called W.I.L.D. (Wilderness Instructor Leadership Development). Through this weekly 3-hour class taught by students for students, I have been able to develop facilitation skills and bring a social work lens to the outdoor education curriculum. I bring this lens on wilderness trips I lead through the club as well as my summer camp, Camp Arcadia, located in the Sebago Lake region of Maine. I have taken my lessons learned on the trail into my social work life by implementing backcountry values into my practice. The intersection of the outdoor world and social work combine my two passions."
Other comments or shout-outs to the CESS community?
"I feel so incredibly lucky to be a student in CESS. I made the absolute right choice to spend my four years of undergraduate studies here, and feel fortunate to have developed a close-knit community of colleagues thanks to the Social Work implementation of the cohort model. I have developed strong relationships with my peers academically where we have learned together. More importantly I have grown with these individuals the past four years and developed strong personal bonds with them. I would have not been this successful in college if it wasn’t for the connections I have had with my peers. My professors have also played a major part of making CESS feel like home and not just a college. I have never have been so pushed yet so supported by faculty in my education career, and feel so lucky to have had this experience at UVM. I have never had teachers believe in me so much and push me to be my absolute best. The professors have made me the social worker I am today. I definitely can’t thank them enough."