Benson- Week 2- MUW Office of Leadership and Service

Activities:
- Attended mock interview for Miss Mississippi pageant contestant
- Met with different employees of different departments within the division of Student Life at MUW
- Worked on Orientation Leader presentation

Reflection:
Going into my second week at MUW, I was a little bit nervous because I knew that my supervisor, Jess, was not going to be there.  I learned last week that everyone in the Office of Student Life is extremely welcoming and friendly, but I did not realize how welcoming they would be without Jess there to guide me along!  I met with different people in the Office of Student Life throughout the week, and each individual person taught me so much about their jobs, their roles at MUW, and about the excitement of working in student affairs.  I know I say this all the time, but I keep getting more and more excited!

I first talked with Dr. Phillip "Flapp" Cockrell, the Director of Student Life at MUW.  He has one of the most positive outlooks on life of anyone I have ever met.  He sent me his resume before our meeting, and it literally took me three hours to finish reading through it- he is so accomplished!  The best piece of advice that Flapp gave to  me was this: Don't limit yourself to one piece of student affairs... Learn as much as you can during your practicum and internship, but more importantly, keep learning throughout your career- Each piece of student affairs works together, and as long as we keep learning and building on what we already know, there is no telling what we can do.  This advice will stay with me for a lifetime.  

I also got to talk with Katie Robinson and Sirena Parker.  Katie and Sirena are both products of Dr. Heiselt, and they gave me some very good advice, also.  Katie (who is also Brooke's supervisor) is the Coordinator of Student Activities at MUW.  She talked with me about the many clubs she sponsors.  Her advice was to not limit myself to a big university.  She had always figured that she would stay at State and work here forever.  Instead, she finds herself wearing many hats at MUW and loving every minute of it!  Sirena is a doctoral student in student affairs at MSU right now.  She is the Director of Community Living at the W.  Sirena is very open and honest about her personal life as well as her professional life.  By being so open, I learned so much about her, and I now know that I can go to her for anything I need during my time at MUW as well as if I need anything after I am finished.  Sirena's advice was to learn from my mistakes.  This advice seems simple, but it is important for us to remember on a daily basis.   


My conversations with these three individuals this week were amazing, and I will never forget them.  I'll leave y'all with some pictures of these fine people just in case y'all run into them and ever need any advice!

 

(From left to right: Dr. Phillip "Flapp" Cockrell, Katie Robinson, Sirena Parker)

Hope y'all have a GREAT week!