Heros/Villains

The person that I have decided to interview as my hero is my mom. My mother’s name is Cindy Noska and she is 51 years old and is employed as a social worker at LaGrange Memorial hospital. My mom best describes herself first and foremost as a mom. “I have two teenage sons; my oldest son Vince is a freshman at Moraine Valley Community College and my youngest is a senior at Brother Rice High School. I always wanted to be a mom and I believe of all the things I excel at in my life, I enjoy this role the most. I truly enjoy my children and I love being involved in their lives and being the best mom I can be to them.” My mom always helps me and my brother with anything we need; like homework, studying or trying to fix problems in our lives that we do not know how to handle.

“My next favorite role is that I am a medical social worker. I am employed as a case manager in a hospital, and my job is to help people with their problems that are related to their medical issues. For example, if someone suffers from depression, has financial limitations or are unsure how to care for themselves after being hospitalized, that is my job to solve that problem or at least get people to the next phase of solving their problem.” “This profession is now obvious to me that I was destined to do given my childhood and family life. As a kid, the role that I played in my family was that I tended to be the mediator for many things. If there was a problem in my family, I always tried to fix it. I was the one who brought everyone together or planned events to have my family together and I was the balance in my family. My mom describes how she was always the one there for her siblings as a kid and still today tends to be the one her family relies on for support.“ I always wanted to help people and resolve issues or problems. I realized with some effort or less drama, people can talk misunderstandings out, make small efforts or just agree to disagree to resolve their problems” My mom describes herself as someone who is always there to help and this takes place in her job at home and at work. I then asked my mom to into more depth about her childhood and how this may have contributed to her career choice. Her response was this: “My home growing up was a bit challenging. My father had mental health issues that tended to keep him in the hospital at times. My parents had a rocky marriage and there was quite a bit of arguing going on between them. My mom provided as much stability for my siblings and me as possible. My brother, sister and I relied on each other to get through these challenges and we were very close. I was the middle child and I counted on them to have our own harmony amongst ourselves to deal with the problems around us at home. My parents did eventually divorce and that was probably the best decision for both of them because they were not happy together. I had a cousin who was in Vietnam and remembered going to my cousin’s house to help him with his PTSD. He had stories that I did not understand, but I knew they had scared him and he needed to talk to get through his fear. My mom’s childhood and her time growing up was a struggle, but she remained durable and able to withstand all of the drama and heartache to become the success she is today. She always had a lot to manage, but that is one of my mom’s best qualities that she can move on with her life and get through tough situations. My mom does her best even when her environment around her is a bit crazy or hostile.

Helping others has always been a part of my mom’s life, but I asked her if she knew that social work was her calling and this is how she responded, “ I had no idea what a social worker even did when I was younger. When I went to college, I started taking sociology classes and I really enjoyed them because they were easy to me and to be honest, they were just common sense classes. I continued to take more challenging sociology classes or social problem curriculum and really enjoyed them. One day my professor asked me to take social work classes that he taught because he thought I was really good at these classes. I then took social work classes and excelled at them, which is how this path of my life came about. Helping people always seemed to be my mom’s calling and she found a path in life that grew into her profession as an adult. My mom completed her Bachelors of social work at Western Illinois University and then went on to get her Master’s of social work at the University of Illinois at Chicago. My mom did not think she was smart enough to get into a MSW program, however after receiving her letters of recommendation and applying to this program, she was accepted. Graduate school was one of the hardest things I ever did in my life, it was very challenging. When I was in graduate school you knew that if you completed the curriculum you were truly meant to pursue this career because it was very difficult, but I did make it and was so proud that I received my Master’s degree. This career that my mom has chosen makes my mom “feel good and it truly does make me feel like I make a difference in people’s lives.”

My mom has lots of hobbies and this is what she does in her personal life. My mom likes to have outlets with others and also alone. It is important to my mom to have outlets to give yourself time to just be YOU. My mom loves to work out at the gym; it helps her feel good about herself and distress from things that are bothering me. My mom likes biking, hiking and being outdoors. More than anything my mom loves spending time with our family. I love to include everyone to do things together and my kids most of all.

My mom tends to like similar things that I enjoy doing as well and because we have similar interests, we have fun. I asked my brother about what he things of our mom and this was his response, “ My mom has always been there for us. She has helped me a lot in the past and even though we do not always agree on things or get along, I love her. She always loves taking us out and going to events and that is when I have the most fun.

My mom is the person I thought of when I needed to choose my hero. My mom has always been there for me and for anyone who needs her. She seems to know what to do or what to say when you need to guidance. Her overall positive attitude about helping others in need is what makes me want to choose my mom as my hero, and she is my hero. Overall, I guess what makes someone a hero is the qualities that someone has and uses to help others. It is the qualities that my mom has that make her a good person and I admire that. I believe my mom used her best qualities to become a great role model as a mom, social worker and support to so many people around her. I admire her drive to meet challenges, both personally and professionally and over all help others. My mom found her gift in life to succeed despite all her challenges she still shares her gift with others. The person that you are drawn to, rely on and trust; are very important and that is my definition of a hero.

Works cited: Noska, Cindy. Interview Sep. 11, 2019.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1L5ABUazXt_ycOALD1N3uGXUEuPn15GNy