Graduate student James Ciotola says career in social work is his calling

As part of The University of Akron’s sesquicentennial celebration — honoring 150 years of our people, place and promises — we are hosting a “Celebration of Academic Excellence” to highlight the history and future of our many academic disciplines.

With many family members working in STEM careers as his role models, it surprised no one when James Ciotola decided to major in engineering. Having excelled in math and science, he saw the field as a good fit with many career opportunities.

But even before he graduated in 2018 with a B.S. in Materials Science and Engineering at The Ohio State University, Ciotola says he knew he was on the wrong path. 

So the Akron native came back home and enrolled in the Graduate School at The University of Akron to earn an M.S. in Social Work.

New direction 

What Ciotola calls the “defining moment” for the career switch came in the summer of 2016 when he was working as an intern at The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. He and his sister were out one day when they were approached by a man who asked for money. Instead, they asked if he wanted something to eat and then walked with him to a nearby sandwich shop. At the counter, he ordered a roast beef sandwich.

James Ciotola

“Without even acknowledging his presence, the woman working the register looked at me and said, ‘We don’t like when people bring them in here because it’s bad for our business,’ Ciotola recalled. “Thankfully, he didn’t hear her — but I did. After we ordered and left, I talked about the event with my sister and she thought it was upsetting, but wasn’t sure what else we could do. I thought about it for a few days, and then one day on my lunch break at Goodyear, I went to the soup kitchen run by the Peter Maurin Center in Akron, where I had volunteered in high school, and helped make and serve lunch.”

Over the next two years, Ciotola continued to volunteer at the soup kitchen, and while at OSU, he joined a student organization that prepared hot lunches and brought them to hungry people around Columbus.

“I felt myself pulling away from engineering and began feeling a burning desire to help in a way that went beyond donating time at lunch or on the weekends,” notes Ciotola. “I grew up in a home where my dad struggled with addiction and it caused a lot of disruption. I’ve watched him struggle my whole life and the desire to help people in his situation, coupled with the volunteer and student org work while at OSU, pushed me fully into social work.”

Opportunities at UA

Ciotola says he knew from the beginning of his graduate studies at UA that this time, the fit was right.

“I feel more comfortable with myself in this field, so I have enjoyed being in the classroom.”

And what he has learned has been applied to his two internship experiences. He first worked at The Blick Center in Akron, a nonprofit agency that provides a range of interdisciplinary services for children, adolescents, adults and their families. He learned about the developmentally disabled population and co-led group therapy while also analyzing the challenges of retaining staff in a direct care setting, such as a group home.

His second internship has been at Community Health Center (CHC) Addiction Services, also in Akron, where Ciotola learned about the field of substance abuse from a therapist’s perspective.

“I spent a lot of time at the outpatient counseling building as well as the inpatient rehab, where I hope to work after graduation in May,” says Ciotola. “Additionally, I have volunteered at the soup kitchen on weekends, which always changes my perspective on those living without homes or a general sense of stability.”

Ciotola has also worked on the Garrett Lee Smith Campus Suicide Prevention Grant with John Ellis, a professor of instruction and addiction curriculum coordinator in the School of Social Work. Ellis is the project manager for the grant, which was awarded to the School of Social Work in January by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to enhance services for college students, including those at risk for suicide, depression, serious mental illness, and/or substance use disorders. 

“Jimmy has an insatiable appetite for learning,” observes Ellis. “His ceaseless intellectual curiosity, resourcefulness and humble desire to help others meets with the highest standard of social work. We’re pretty proud of him.”

Quick to agree is Greta Lax, director of the Akron-Region Interprofessional Area Health Education Center (ARI-AHEC), based here on campus.

Finding ways to give back 

“Jimmy is a stellar example of a UA Social Work student — passionate about his calling, truly leveraging his in-class time, coursework and field experiences to advance his understanding of the field, and expanding his experiences beyond the classroom to make a difference in his community,” says Lax, who had Ciotola in two of the courses she teaches in the School of Social Work. “Jimmy has also given back to other students, for example sharing his knowledge and experiences about people experiencing homelessness and related policies with undergraduate students like the AHEC Scholars with whom I work.”  

Ciotola is eager to begin his social work career.

“As I have continued to grow and learn about my interests, like social policy, I have felt reaffirmed in my decision,” he notes. “Fields like counseling and clinical psychology give the opportunity to work with individuals and groups, but social workers have the options of looking from a macro perspective and analyzing structural barriers that would be more difficult for other professions. I definitely got some backlash from my family about the switch, which caused some anxiety, but the more I learn about the field and some of the work that social workers have done, the more confident I become.

“Be it running group therapy at an inpatient rehab, passing out lunches to hungry people, or learning about the ways entire communities are oppressed by poor policy and learning how to correct it, I feel like I have had many opportunities to make a positive impact,” says Ciotola. “I am excited for the future in the field because I know I will continue to have these opportunities.”