Leadership
I believe Leadership has been one competency area in which I have experienced a great deal of growth over the last two years. Many of the advanced skills outlined by ACPA and NASPA (2010) have come into practice each day of my internship and practicum experiences. Throughout my time in these roles, I have developed such skills as “[leading, motivating, influencing, inspiring, and enabling] others to contribute toward effectiveness and success of the organization,” “[displaying] authenticity and congruence between one’s true self and one’s positional roles,” and “[creating] a culture that advocates the appropriate and effective use of feedback systems (e.g., 360-degree feedback) for improving individual leadership and team performance” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010). I believe my consistent openness to feedback from supervisors and peers demonstrates this latter skill very well, as I believe that I must seek feedback from those with whom I work on all levels in order to improve continuously as a supervisor and leader for my students. The former two skills have developed through regular staff meetings with entire Resident Advisor and orientation leader staffs as well as one-on-one conversations to enhance each student’s individual processing of and growth during their experience. One example of this is how I helped the orientation leaders during my NODA internship understand why the new director had made certain changes to the orientation program and how this could enhance the experiences of all constituents, including the staff, the students, and their family members.
One artifact for my continuous development in the area of Leadership is the extended orientation curriculum I developed for the Ram Academy program at Suffolk University during my NODA internship this past summer. Tasked with this project only a couple of weeks before the end of my internship, it challenged me to develop a sense of a big picture concept with little direction and take a program that had remained unchanged for several years and add new elements to it. I utilized various leadership training from previous experiences and my knowledge of the Social Change Model of Leadership (Komives & Wagner, 2012) to design a program that combined experiential group learning (low and high ropes courses) with individual and group processing and reflection activities in smaller facilitation groups.
In addition to designing the program curriculum, I collaborated with members of the Student Leadership and Involvement and Diversity Services offices to incorporate additional components for campus involvement and multicultural leadership in the discussion guides. The curriculum not only includes the activities and discussion guides for each aspect of the Social Change Model, it also includes opportunities for participant reflection and goal setting to be revisited (with Ram Academy group leaders) throughout students’ first year at the institution. I added this component to the curriculum to help students continue the learning from their Ram Academy experience througout their first year with the help of a peer mentor with whom they were connected from the experience.
Another artifact is a testimonial from one of the Orientation Scholars (team leaders) with whom I worked very closely during my NODA internship. My role with the Orientation Scholars was not only to serve as their supervisor, but to work alongside them in a rotation during the orientation sessions so that each of the four would be able to oversee and lead the various aspects and orientation tracks of the program for the fall orientations when neither I nor the other NODA intern would be there. This experience was truly one in which I “[served] as a mentor for students, new professionals, or those new to the organizational unit” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010). I believe the role I played with the Suffolk University orientation team demonstrates a significant development in the area of Leadership, especially given how I helped the orientation leaders process their individual experiences, manage their expectations given a great deal of change to the program, and still have an impact and take the most from each orientation session whether they worked directly with students or family members.
Personal Foundations
I believe Personal Foundations has been one area in which I have experienced an immense deal of development and over the last two years especially. Balancing a full graduate course load, a 28-hour-per-week internship, and (making an attempt at) having a personal life has been a consistent challenge. This is doubly true when one considers the necessary effort to become a more well-rounded professional that is expected in the Personal Foundations competency area. I believe I have done this latter piece very well since beginning graduate school, frequently seeking out opportunities and experiences that would enhance the skills I use regularly in my internship and provide me occasions to build new skills and gain different experiences.
Personal Foundations focuses on the student affairs professional holistically, taking into account all aspects of the individual’s life: physical health, emotional and spiritual well-being, professional development, knowledge of strengths and areas in need of improvement, opportunities for reflection, passion for and integrity in one’s work, among several other factors. I believe I have touched on many of these aspects throughout the last two years, and especially this past year. I have made (not entirely successful) attempts to improve my diet and exercise more regularly, I have made efforts to separate the personal and professional realms of my life to get closer to that ever-elusive work-life balance (I prefer harmony), and I have sought consistent and frequent feedback from my supervisor and staff so I can continue my growth as a new professional. Additionally, I worked with some of my supervisors over the last two years to process and reflect on my experiences and discuss how to maintain authenticity and integrity when I feel a lack of values congruence between myself and my institution or department; and I have maintained my cultural heritage in a location that provides little opportunity to do so, thanks to the caring and inclusive faculty and staff with whom I have been fortunate enough to work.
One artifact that I am very proud to have is a Certificate of Appreciation for serving as a small group facilitator for the IMPACT retreat through Fraternity and Sorority Life at BGSU. Ever since I started interviewing for graduate assistantships, I wanted to gain more insight into the Greek student experience and work with affiliated students to incorporate their organizations’ founding values more consistently throughout their involvement and relationships. My first attempt to do so was making an effort of several months to develop a practicum experience with Fraternity and Sorority Life at BGSU. Unfortunately, that opportunity did not come to fruition; however, I was able to take advantage of other opportunities over the last year to become more involved with the Greek community on campus.
In the fall, I served as a facilitator for the IMPACT retreat through the North-American Interfraternity Conference, which focuses on helping emerging leaders in the community (typically second- and third-year students) find ways to connect their organizations’ values to their lived experiences and build better relationships throughout the Greek and overall campus communities. Not only was I able to provide a different perspective as a non-affiliated facilitator, I was also able to learn from our Greek students about what their affiliation has meant for them. I was thrilled to learn more about the Greek experience here at BGSU, and see the vision many of the students had for their organizations and the Greek community as a whole. Since then, I have also served as an evaluator for the Greek Community Standards of Excellence process and the Chapter President of the Year Awards.
A major component of the Personal Foundations competency area is regular self-evaluation and reflection, especially when it comes to one’s ability to “recognize needs and opportunities for continued growth” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 26). No artifact demonstrates this regular self-reflection and recognition of areas for growth than my evaluations of my performance in my internship conducted each semester. These evaluations provided an official opportunity for documented reflection on my experience, strengths in completing my job responsibilities, and areas for improvement identified by my supervisor, the Resident Advisors I supervised, and myself. This allowed me to practice the recommended skill of “[transferring] thoughtful reflection into positive future action,” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 27) and for this reason, I took my self-evaluations and the 360-degree feedback I received very seriously. While uncomfortable, this reflection and feedback are the only ways I can assess my progress in developing as a professional and also receive honest critiques of my performance and supervision in order to continue developing professionally and also become a better and more adept supervisor for my student staff.
References
Bresciani, M., Todd, D., Carpenter, S., Janosik, S., Komives, S., Love, P., & Tyrell, S. (2010). ACPA/NASPA professional competency areas for student affairs practitioners. American College Personnel Association, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators.
Komives, S. R., & Wagner, W. (2012). Leadership for a better world: Understanding the social change model of leadership development. John Wiley & Sons.
Advising and Helping
Advising and Helping has been present throughout most of my experience in my internship. From overseeing crisis management while on-call in the duty rotation to meeting with and referring students of concerns and those who have experienced mental health concerns, I feel my experience has involved several of the descriptors of this competency area. I have engaged in many of the basic-level Advising and Helping skills, including “strategically and simultaneously pursue multiple objectives in conversations with students,” “facilitate problem-solving,” “facilitate individual and group decision making and goal setting,” and “maintain an appropriate degree of confidentiality… and recognize when confidentiality should be broken to protect the student or others” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 8). These basic-level skills have often come into practice during investigation meetings in the student conduct process. Whether through the educational conversations I have with students or through the subsequent sanctions I assign based on their violations of the Student Handbook, I have facilitated student reflection, pursued multiple objectives such as fact checking and development of thinking, and I have balanced on the unsteady plane of maintaining confidentiality and sufficient reporting.
I have also achieved several of the intermediate skills. “Consult with mental health professionals,” “identify patterns of behavior that signal mental health concerns,” “manage conflict,” and “initiate crises intervention responses and processes” are some of the primary intermediate skills that I utilize in my internship. We work closely with the Counseling Center and have a strong relationship with the Counselor in Residence, often consulting with her on student-of-concern follow-up, referring students to her in-hall hours after traumatic events, and using her personally as a mental health resource. With several students in my hall this year who have experienced severe mental health concerns, identifying these students and their indicative behaviors has become an often-utilized skill for me. Having a general knowledge of unhealthy coping mechanisms and how individual students may retreat to bad habits has helped me in my follow-up with these residents and has led to expedited referral processes when necessary. Managing conflict is an everyday occurrence in my work, from roommate mediations to relationship disputes. Serving on duty and as the point-person in my hall when crises occur, I have had a significant amount of experience in initiating the necessary responses and following through on the procedures and reporting protocol for this university.
It is difficult at this stage of my professional development to assess myself on the advance skillset, especially since I have no counseling training and am not qualified to counsel students in times of crisis. In my role, I often refer students to resources and utilize the helping skills inherent in that process. The advance skill items I believe I have utilized in my internship experience are “exercise institutional crisis intervention skills, and coordinate crisis intervention and response processes” and “collaborate with other campus departments and organizations as well as surrounding community agencies and other institutions of higher education to address mental health concerns in a comprehensive, collaborative way” (ACPA & NASPA, 2010, p. 9). I believe I have demonstrated these skills more so indirectly and exclusively in my time serving as the Hall Director on Duty in the on-call rotation for the Office of Residence Life. When we are called to intervene with students who are potentially experience suicidal ideation or behavior, we consult with the University Police Department and often refer (and sometimes transport) students to the Counseling Center or the LINK through Behavioral Connections.
An artifact that demonstrates my competency in this area is my duty log from one of my on-call rotations this year. With Murphy’s Law coming into play on a number of occasions, the week tested my competency and skills numerous times. Managing a variety of crises, from mental health concerns to facilities emergencies to physical safety issues, I utilized several items in my mental toolkit. Not only did I use my training and manual as guides, I also employed techniques from the Crisis Counseling class (COUN 6640) in which I was enrolled and lessons learned from previous weeks on duty to ensure I responded to each situation with confidence and appropriately handled and followed through on all concerns from both residents and staff.