A student Profile

By Cheryl Perry

Hello, everyone my name is Cheryl Perry (also known as chicken) and I am a student in the human service/social service concentration program at PCC. I also currently hold two positions in our organization called CARE. I am the vice president and also the treasurer. Becoming a member of the PCC’s student body has been a great accomplishment for me. I decided to pursue my associate’s degree in Human services after many years of agonizing over what I haven’t finished in the past. I started college when my son was young but chose other paths. Today I am very proud to maintain a 4.0 for the spring 09 semesters and a 3.7 cumulative GPA. With the help of two of my wonderful instructors Sheri Narin, and Kathy Oakley I would not have the courage to do my best and strive for excellence. They give us guidance to succeed and the tools to bring out the best in a person. Several of the classes that they teach will enable us to become competitive prospects when we enter the job market.  To name a few classes are Community Resources. At first I hated the thought of what we were doing. It is basically a grant writing class and it is very hard. I can not think of one student in the program that actually looks forward to it. (Sorry Sheri) but after surviving the class and making an A, I realize the importance of such a class.  In todays economic times we as human service workers need to know how to access all the resources available to find funding for our programs that will benefit the clients. I actually highly recommend this class to all students. You have to go in with a positive attitude and besides it is a required class. My other favorite class so far is Activity Therapy taught by Kathy, we learn different activities that the older generation can enjoy while being confined in a nursing center. We visited various nursing facilities in Person County and learned the difference in the types of care they need and receive.

 As a member of our CARE club I would like to encourage all students to participate in our activities. We visit nursing homes and play games with the residents, adopt a family through social services at Christmas time, in the past we have helped out with disaster relief(hurricane Katrina), we help out in campus food drives and campus activities. Each year we go to a state conference in the fall held for human service students, and also a huge 3 day conference in the spring. These are very informational and a good place for networking, and also a great place to meet new friends.  We are such a small group on campus, but we are easy to find with our bright orange shirts and our huge smiles. We hold many fundraisers throughout the semester to fund our activities. Bake sales, fish fries, donut sales, and whatever we can do to make a dollar (well within reason) I offered to sell my husband once but the care president said no.  I am really looking forward to meeting all of the new students this semester and hopefully having more participation in our club.

In closing, I would like to personally thank Kathy and Sheri for being such awesome mentors to me, and for always being there when I need a shoulder or two.  Human Services program is not only about learning about what we need to do in the job market, but our program is one big family. We are small but we are also growing and we are all about helping one and another.