College is a time of copious amounts of growth, development, and change for college students (don't you remember feeling like a different person when you graduated college than when you started?), and my job is to facilitate that growth; to be a support system, advisor, mentor, listener, programmer, whatever the students on campus need to grow and develop and morph into whoever and whatever they want to be.
Hand-in-hand with this career path is professional development, which I've talked about a lot in my previous posts. And a huge source (for me) for professional development is Twitter, which has turned out to be SO much more than just a social media site. Specifically, several hashtags--ways to follow conversations--have kept me thinking, reflecting, and growing-- #sachat (Student Affairs Chat), #sagrad (Student Affairs graduate students), and #wlsalt (Women Leaders: Support, Affirm, Lift, and Transform).
Related to the #wlsalt hashtag, another tag--#sawomenblog--encourages Blog Prompt Mondays, when women can think about our careers and lives and share stories and encouragement with each other. Below is my response for today's Blog Prompt Monday. Enjoy!
Let’s reflect on our careers in student affairs today. Sometimes we need to think about the good times as we navigate through those crazier times. Tell us about your best day in student affairs. We want to hear all about that day the student you helped stay in school their first year later came to tell you thank you when they were graduating. Or how that colleague you mentored got the job you knew was perfect for them. Tell us all about the day that is the epitome of why you do what you do.
Even though I've only been in student affairs for a year and half, there are most definitely moments I can recall that remind me why I'm here and why I chose student affairs. I don't know that there has been a day, a whole 24-hour-period, that can fit this definition--as I'm sure every professional or para-professional in student affairs can attest, there are highs and lows to every day and moments of learning and growth in each situation that arises.
However, for me, the moments that remind me why I'm here are when my students trust me. These moments take several forms, and they always surprise me.
I remember the first time one of my students asked me for a letter of recommendation. I JUST finished undergrad a year and a half ago; I'll be asking for letters of recommendation for myself in a short time when I begin the job search. When did I become a person of influence, a person of worthwhile opinions, chosen to recommend a student for a position of honor? I myself was humbled and honored by her request.
Then, there are the students who come to me for advice, for opinions, for comfort. It seems like just last week when I could go in my mentors' offices, shut the door, and worry about my future with them. These amazing women always took time out of their days for me; they listened to my worry and anxiety and, somehow, with a few words of wisdom, could reassure me that everything would be okay. Now I find myself looking into the faces of a few of my students, the ones who come to my office for advice, and I am again humbled and honored by their trust.
And in those moments, when students come to me for help, I am reminded why I chose student affairs. My mentors, women of intelligence and integrity and strength, helped me discern my future, and have guided me along the way. I chose to become a student affairs professional so I could have an opportunity to pay that guidance forward. If my mentors could take time to help me along in my journey, it's the least I can do to offer the same for any student that comes my way.
Whenever I have a rough day, when e-mails and homework pile up and my statistics class is incomprehensible and I'm on campus for 10-hour-days, I can think back to these bright spots of trust from my students and hope, pray, believe, that I'm making a difference. That's all I really want to do, even if it's just for one student.
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