March 21
It is a singular honor to receive the Gary Shaffer Award, one that I certainly
never expected to receive. I am so honored to be recognized by School Social
Work Association of America. But this award is not about me. It is about the
legacy of Gary Shaffer who never stopped fighting for the principled and
passionate practice of school social work, and who continuously advocated for
the care and well-being of children.
Like Gary Shaffer, I received my Ph.D. in social work from the University of
Illinois at Urbana Champaign, and I taught school social work at University of
Illinois at Chicago for 21 years. Some years ago a student timidly raised her hand
in class and said, “Dr. Massat, you taught school social work to my mother.”
Like Gary Shaffer, I have a shared passion for child welfare and for school social
work. At the University of Illinois I was privileged to study with and learn from
some of the greats in the field of school social work: Lela Costin, Marjorie
Monkman, Paula Allen Meares. More recently I have worked with people
around the world who are fighting for the establishment of school social work in
Japan, in China, and in Mongolia. I was given the gift of editing School Social
Work Journal for ten years by Shirley McDonald and the Illinois Association of
School Social Workers. I was honored by Robert Constable to be asked to edit
his seminal school social work book in its 6th, 7th, and 8th editions. And now I am
privileged to be co-editing the 8th edition with Michael Kelly, of Loyola
University Chicago, one of my former MSW and doctoral students who has now
achieved prominence for his own work in the field.
Along the way my students have passed on these multiple legacies. The journal
has reached across the country. The book has gone around the world. And these
things were legacies of the greats who came before and for those who will
follow. I give thanks to all of the leaders of this great field of school social work
practice.
But this honor is not only about the well-known and the prominent leaders of
school social work. It is about the tireless work of school social workers on
behalf of children and families. It is about those children and those families.
Three days ago, Christopher Michael Patchner, age 30, died after a lifelong
chronic health struggle. Christopher was the son of my Dean, Michael Patchner,
also a former University of Illinois faculty member. I remember years ago my
conversations with Mike Patchner as his son and my own son were receiving
diagnoses that meant extreme obstacles and struggles that would never end.
And today, I think of the school social workers like you who helped my son, who
helped young people like Christopher Patchner and his family to develop and
carry out IEPs, to struggle to find the resources to meet multiple needs, to fight
for those rights and needs, and to support and strengthen child and family in
such a way that a young person like Christopher could be a blessing and joy to
his family and to all who knew him. Gary Shaffer fought tirelessly for children
growing up with obstacles, such as Christopher Patchner. Now they have both
gone before us, each of them a lesson in lives lived with courage, with faith,
with optimism, and with hope.
Albert Camus in the book The Stranger, wrote, “In the midst of winter, I found
there was, within me, an invincible summer. And that makes me happy. For it
says that no matter how hard the world pushes against me, within me, there’s
something stronger – something better, pushing right back.”
Today I honor Gary Shaffer and all of the great school social workers who have
charted a path for us. I honor Christopher Patchner and all of those whom we
serve and who also give so much to us. I honor you as school social workers who
work every day to be people who advocate, who struggle, and who find that
invincible summer when sometimes it seems that there is no hope. All of you
teach me every day to live life with courage, with passion and with the belief
that we can change ourselves. We can change our schools. We can change our
world.