Jacob Haun- Holmes Cultural Diversity Center Week 3

Pertinent Weekly Activities

• Met with a student to discuss Training opportunities
• Spoke with director of another department to implement new initiatives
• Spoke with new parents at freshman orientations
• Submitted a report into weekly staff meeting
• Met with site supervisor to tweak the training schedule

This week was another really eye-opening experience in the Holmes Cultural Diversity Center. I am learning so much and I am really happy that I pushed myself to try something new. I think I always knew that diversity was something that was kind of uncharted for me, and I have really pushed myself to learn some new and exciting things. This week I had an awesome opportunity to sit down with some students and discuss their experience of going through the training that I am planning. I have heard a lot of administrator opinion, but it was nice to get the balance from a student. They are the ones who are on the front lines and that I should be catering the experience towards. I love the fact that HCDC has them in the office over the summer, I feel that I am really able to get some awesome feedback and experience from them being there. 

Another exciting thing I did this year was worked with housing to help implement some new initiatives. I was not aware of the scope of things that I was going to be able to do with this office over the summer, and I definitely had not planned on helping them get new programs off the ground. I am lucky enough to have some experience with housing through my assistantship, so that made the interaction a little easier. However, I think that laying the foundation for the program is something really exciting that will help really boost my experiences within student affairs. 

Another new experience that I had this week was submitting a report for my office. While this sounds trivial, it is something new for me. I am not typically in charge of any action items for a weekly meeting agenda. It was a really proud moment for me to submit my work and be able to show the things that I have accomplished in only a short amount of time. 

A revalation that I had this week in working with HCDC this summer and especially with parents is working through the diversity conversation. I have found that not only are we educating students, but we are educating parents. Additionally, I think that it is important to understand that people are in all different levels of their understanding in regards to diversity, and that the struggle is something that we must continually work through. That has been one of the biggest lessons I have had to learn, but also an amazing indicator of some of the things I need to know for my students when I start working again in the fall.