May 26, 2009 -- Jeremy Antar had a job in advertising sales at AOL Media Networks in New York City, but left after one year to become a social worker.

“I have always been interested in social work,” said the Great Neck, NY native who graduated from Wurzweiler School of Social Work with a concentration in casework. “I thought that I would fulfill that interest with volunteer and part-time work as I had done throughout my life.”

With the support of family and friends, Antar enrolled at Wurzweiler because it “had a good reputation and I thought that the small class size would make for an enriched learning environment.” He also was offered a partial scholarship, which made Wurzweiler a more affordable choice.

Antar’s field work focus this spring was in palliative care at the Veteran’s Administration Hospital in Brooklyn, a far cry from his previous field experience working with children and adolescents in a school-based health center.

“Most of my prior experience had been working with children and adolescents,” said Antar, who did volunteer work with children at the Ann Arbor JCC while an undergraduate at the University of Michigan. “However, I really enjoyed working at the VA this year, and would definitely consider working with the veteran population in the future.”

As one of the chosen student representatives at Wurzweiler’s hooding ceremony, Antar addressed his fellow graduates about dedication to their new profession.

“While we all have different populations that we want to work with and different areas of social work that we are interested in,” he said, “what we all have in common is that we enjoy and are passionate about our work.”

Next profile: Aaron Koller, graduate of Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish studies, finds clues in ancient Semitic culture that shed brighter light on Israelite society