My name is Samantha Gendreau, and I am a senior Sociology student with a minor in Psychology here at Quinnipiac. I transferred to Quinnipiac in the Fall of 2023, looking for more challenging coursework and stability, while being closer to my home and family. At my previous school I was a Social Work major with a minor in Psychology, so I found that sociology here at Quinnipiac would best suit me and my academic goals in my last two years of college. Sociology focuses on the systems that influence our personal identities as well as other systems, which is great in order to address social issues of importance in our ever-changing world. Through the application of this knowledge, I will better be able to serve those in my future career as a social worker. I’m happy I was able to minor in Psychology in addition to Sociology because I was able to understand the whole picture of an individual, their systems they are a part of, and the ways these systems affect individuals on a systematic and personal level.
As a working professional, I want to be a social worker for school aged children and adolescents, and am particularly passionate about helping students with disabilities navigate academic settings. Something I have appreciated about QU is having access to programs and classes that give me an opportunity to try new areas of practice. One of these was my internship course that I took in the spring of 2024, where I interned at Prism Autism Education and Consultation, and worked as a entry level behavioral technician for young children with autism spectrum disorder. Through this experience, I learned how to apply the skills and theories I’ve learned throughout my degree, and navigated different challenges and successes that I will inevitably face in the professional sphere, as well as in my future degree in social work. Something I would say to any student considering a sociology major is: “Just do it!” Sociology provides students with a heightened awareness of social issues and larger sociopolitical systems that influence virtually every profession out there – from nursing (working with patients from diverse backgrounds) to engineering (providing proper, accessible and ethical infrastructure)!
