Amber Norwood: Orientation and Events - Week 6

Activities:

• Reflected on practicum experience
• Met with supervisor

Experience:

     I keep thinking back on my practicum experience and how much I enjoyed it. I had a great supervisor and was able to get a wide variety of experiences throughout the month. However, what it really had me thinking about is what area of student affairs I really want to begin my career in. I came into SA thinking that orientation was an area I really wanted to pursue. After working in it for a month, I still believe that I would like to work in Orientation; but now there are many more areas that are catching my attention. 

     Some times this ambiguity scares me, and other times I find it exciting. I do believe I would like to find a "mentor", because that is seeming to become more and more important as I grow in the profession. 

Raychel Payne -- Center for Student Activities Week 7

Activities:

• One Hour Supervision Meeting
• Are you Smarter than a Faculty Member? College Ready Event

Reflection:

This week I did not get a chance to be in the Student Activities office for very long, but I was able to have a great conversation with my supervisor.  We discussed all of the projects that I have been a part of for the past few weeks and projects that I will be involved with throughout the year. The main part of discussion was the event that was taking place that night for the College Ready program, "Are you Smarter that a Faculty Member?" This was a large trivia night that I had put together in the beginning of my work in the office. I was unable to attend the actual event, but I helped to ensure that everything was ready to go on the day of. Because there are not as many events taking place in the summer, my supervisor offered me the opportunity to help advance a concert or show later this semester. I am so thankful for this opportunity because I would like to go into the student activities area in my future career. 

This weeks chapter 8 & 11 both inspired me to really get thinking. As of right now I know that I want to stay in housing for a while but I also love working with student activities. I would consider my current housing supervisor my mentor, but would like to look for others outside of housing to expand my resources in both areas of student affairs. 

Career Center: Lindsay Pinkston

Activities:

• Co-presented at BAMA Bound sibling orientation
• Attended the Career Center staff retreat
• Observed student appointments
• Attended Candid Careers demonstration

Experience:

This week I was able to attend the staff retreat for the employees of the Career Center at The University of Alabama. Because I have worked full-time before I have attended in-service meetings and it was so nice to be a part of that again. The Career Center staff were eager to work and share such passion and enthusiasm for the work they do. We worked on creating the mission statement for the office and I thoroughly enjoyed that brainstorming process. There was also a time of reflection from the year past and looking ahead to the new school year to come.

Connection to the Reading:

The reading for chapter 8 really grabbed my attention. I am definitely thinking heavily about my career path for the future. My practicum experience has definitely prompted me to think more about it than I have in the past. Personal factors and the institution itself are things I am taking into consideration as I decided where I want to work one day. I have found that finding the right fit as far as the town the institution is located is important just as much as the university. I believe I have found a right fit with the office I have been working with during this month. There is potential to grow professionally and I admire the proactive approach they take versus a reactive stance. 

Alexandra Kytan: Jackson State University Office of Student Life

Activities

-- Reflect on experience at Jackson State University
-- Contact supervisor about continued interaction with department and institution throughout school year

Reflection

This weeks reading was all about enjoying the journey. Since I am back at Mississippi State University (MSU) I have been able to reflect on my time spent at Jackson State University (JSU) and recognize the unique differences between JSU and MSU. I am so very thankful for my time spent at JSU and the diverse experiences I was able to encounter. The different people and the different departments helped me have a better understanding of institutional differences and how that can affect what department I may want to work in depending on the college. Although there were times of confusion and struggle, I can honestly say that I appreciate every aspect of it. The world of student affairs is a roller coaster, there is never two days that will be the same. But instead of letting these moments of ambiguity scare me away, I see them as a learning opportunity and believe they add to my overall journey as a professional. I have been able to bring my past experiences in criminology/sociology to better my outlook and motivate me in different ways.

Laura Dunn, Blog 6: College Ready

Activities:

·      Acting as a path finder to speak with students who are skipping class

·      Advising students on the advantage of dropping a class when necessary

·      Helping retrieve a lost cell phone from an elevator shaft

·      “Are you smarter than a faculty member” trivia night

·      Lab Rats performance- Pop corn expert

·      Oak Hall office hours

This past week has been yet another one filled with adventure!  As you can see from my activities above, my practicum is filled with a wide range of duties and it has afforded me some great diverse experiences.  The most important topic of this week was academics though.  I’ve been serving as the program path finder, so when a students skips more than two classes I am notified by the professor and I follow up with the students.  This week was increasingly important because of how far into the July semester it was.  Friday was the last day to drop classes, so for the students that were pretty much at the verge of no return, this was a great piece of advice!  Some students took my advice, while others did not.  Either way, it gave me valuable experience in speaking with students one-on-one in regards to their academic careers.  It reminds me that ultimately the decision is up to the students and I have to be ok with it, even if they choose to crash and burn.  There were a couple fireballs this week, but they did so on their own accord. 

           

However, this week was also full of some wonderfully memorable moments!  On the first day of this week I was speaking with a group of students playing twister (a group plays it every day…) and out of the corner of my eye I see a student accidentally drop his phone down the elevator shaft.  This lead to an interesting discussion of what the best course of action for such an event is. 

This week we also had two scheduled events that did not disappoint.  Tuesday night was our annual “Are You Smarter than a Faculty Member” trivia night.  Students had a great time playing and lucky, a student group won, beating out the faculty group by one point!  

We also were lucky enough to have a lab rats performance on Wednesday evening as well.  So many of the students had no clue what Lab Rats were but we encouraged them to go and promised a good show.  Very happy they did not disappoint and lived up to the hype! I also learned some valuable skills of how to use a popcorn machine.  I only have minor burns to report...

With any event that we have set up for the students, no one is required to go, only encouraged.  We want the students to have things to do since the summer session is very chill, but we also want them to have free will and be able to make their own choices.  The graduate assistant for College Ready and I make rounds reminding people about upcoming events and really talking them up.  Typically the students that join in the events are the ones doing well across the board and that keep in contact with us.  Some of these students I have become very close with and they come down to keep me company on lonely nights during my desk office hours.  The other night I didn’t bring dinner and the vending machine wasn’t working so a group of student brought me food from their room.  Love these guys!  

This week’s reading focused on enjoying the journey of our student affairs career, and what a journey this practicum has been.  There have been many ups and downs, and an extremely diverse amount of experiences, just like most professions in students affairs.  I’ve been very lucky to be able to bring to the table a lot of my past experiences, that although some may seem disconnected, in the working world they all blend together to make a great mix if skills that are easily utilized in the student affairs world. 

The tips offered by our readings were also quite refreshing and spoken truly!  I’ve been working full time for almost 4 years and each piece of advice offered by the book I absolutely agree with!  From committing to hard work, to not being afraid each statement offered a wonderful frame for the kind of world we all plan to work in.  The statement that stood out most to me would be having broad shoulders and small tear ducts.  I can honestly say in the past 4 years this has come in handy so many times, especially since I work between the world of student affairs and academics.  We take a lot of abuse in our positions but the good definitely outweigh the bad and it’s all worth it! 

Chelsey Vincent: Academic Advising Week 7

Activities

• ·         Advised students at Orientation
• ·         Shadowed academic advisers
• ·         Welcomed and advised students at the University Academic Advising Center

Experience

One of the highlights of the week was advising students at the last Orientation. This Orientation was different from the others because we did not have a definite number of students. We also did not know the students’ classification. We were told to expect a mix of transfers and freshmen. I found out in June that it is helpful to be familiar with many degree programs when advising transfer students, so I was a little hesitant going into this Orientation.  The young man that I worked with turned out to be a transfer student, but I was able to help him! He had a good idea of what he wanted to major in, and I was able to help him get into classes. I was not very familiar with the major ahead of time, but I knew enough to help him. I took him as far as I could, and then one of the advisers came to help him. It turned out that what I helped to put on his schedule was as far as he could go. This was very encouraging. Sometimes it’s hard to see the progress I am making. Helping students is not like mowing a yard. You cannot physically see where you have been and where you need to go. However, this helped me to know that the work I have been doing when I look at the requirements for degree programs and asking questions is paying off.

In regards to different career paths as a student affairs professional, I have learned to be thankful for my experience as an elementary teacher. I see other professionals observing how students act, and sometimes they do not understand why students do the things they do. For the most part, students are leaving the K-12 public school system. There is a culture of education in the Mississippi K-12 school system, and I understand it. There is another adviser in the UAAC, and she understands it too. You can tell by the way she interacts with students. My previous work experience has been validated in working with this adviser. 

Week 6 - Hannah Mountford

Activities:

• Supervision
• Final RA presentation

Experience

This weeks chapter was all about enjoying the journey, and that is something that I think I definitely did. While my experience in DOS may not have been what I thought it would have exactly been. It was definitely what I know I needed at this point in my life. The Dean of Students office helped me become more administratively focused, and that is something that I feel like our program is not extremely heavy on. I know that it is easy to lose sight of the goal when you are not receiving what you think you should be getting in terms of experience, but I would not change my practicum experience for anything. 

Each week I have been able to reflect with the weekly blog and realize how cool of an opportunity I was able to take advantage of by working with some really great people. While I may not have had this insight earlier on in the semester, I think chapter 8 and 10 really put everything into perspective for me. Not everyone gets to do all of the great things that I have been privileged to do, and as much as I could sit back and stress out how the DOS was not "exactly" what I thought it could have been, now that I have completed my hours and was able to reflect upon my experience I realized that I gained some extremely valuable skills. 

I was able to network a ton. I have made some very good contacts that I know are only going to help me out in the future. I was also able to see what a Dean of Students office is, and what it looks like on a day to day basis. This really helped me in terms of deciding if this is a career path in which I would like to embark on in the future, and I believe that it is something that I am still extremely interested in. And finally, I was just given the overall autonomy to work how I wanted, and create something that, while beneficial to them, had a great flair of my personality. 

Being able to enjoy the journey really helps you count your blessings. I am really appreciative of our weekly reflective posts because they helped put everything into perspective for me. I am definitely going to recommend the Dean of Students office in the future, because I know that it may not exactly be what you want or what you thought it was going to be, but it will be so much more, you just have to look at it from a different perspective. 

Final Update From Shackouls Honors College - Kelsey Jones

Overview of Experience:

This post marks the last update and final summary of my practicum experience with Shackouls Honors College. I have finished my 100 hours and I will now only be collaborating with the Honors College through my assistantship with Housing & Residence Life. I have learned a great deal from my experience working with the Honors College and this experience has been the highlight of my summer. Most of the valuable lessons I learned pertain to the importance of a positive relationship between academic and student affairs. Working with the Honors College this summer has given me a great deal of experience and understanding when it comes to the significant of this relationship and how to appropriately go about creating and maintaining it. I have quite enjoyed my time getting to know the staff of the Honors College and the colorful and bright student leaders who are so proud to be a part of the Honors College throughout their higher education experience. I am thankful to have been able to see firsthand the wonderful resources, opportunities, and support the Honors College provides its students. I feel so confident in my abilities as the Residence Director of their Living Learning Community because I can honestly say that I believe in all that they are trying to accomplish and the benefits each student will reap as a part of the community.

The reading for this week was quite relevant to the final week of this practicum experience as it was all about "Words of Wisdom" for growing student affairs professionals. Particular pieces of advice that I found particularly resonant throughout my practicum experience include being values driven, committing yourself and working hard, have broad shoulders and small tear ducts, and don't be afraid. 

Being Values Driven:

The Honors College has a strong mission of being advocates and resources to help students achieve their personal learning goals. This is an aspect of their core principles that runs strong through the veins of each departmental initiative. I have been able to see the Honors College fight for the needs of their students and stand firm in their values in the face of challenges presented by other departments. I think this "stick to your guns" attitude that the Honors College takes on is very admirable and has taught me a lot about how important it is to find a job where you believe whole heartedly in the work you will be doing and where you will be surrounded by people who will advocate for the success and values that you collectively believe in.

Committing Yourself and Working Hard:

Though the Honors College is filled with hardworking faculty, staff, and students who are committed to the jobs they are set out to do - I mostly learned this lesson through all of the stress and hard work I personally put into my work and school during the month of June. Taking three June courses, completing all 100 hours of my practicum, all while still working quite heavily at my assistantship to through chairing the Residence Life Training Committee was probably the busiest and most stressed I have been to date. I learned a lot about what I can personally accomplish this summer. Even when I was pushed to my breaking point of stress I never broke down or even cried about how stressed I was, I got organized, worked hard, and pushed myself through. I got all A's in my summer courses, finished my practicum, and planned a training that is still in-progress and running smoothly. I'm pretty proud of all that I've accomplished this summer. 

Have Broad Shoulders and Small Tear Ducts:

Though this could also relate to my stressful month of June, I think I learned a lot this summer about how important it is not to take everything so personally. I don't think it's necessary to get into specifics, but, some people aren't going to understand the role of a student affairs professional. Even though they might not mean to, in trying to understand your role (or just not even trying to understand at all) you might feel belittled or that they feel your job isn't important or necessary. I learned that it's important to have a strong sense of purpose in what you're doing and have internal confidence that what you're doing makes a difference. Not everyone is going to be gung-ho about student affairs and you just have to be okay with that. I read a quote somewhere that says "Act as if what you're doing makes a difference, it does." and I think that rings especially true for student affairs professionals. We know that what we're doing is important to student success, that's just going to have to be enough sometimes.

Don't Be Afraid

I know that I am on the verge of writing the longest blog post in history, but, I learned the importance of not being afraid this summer. Not being afraid to ask for help or to ask for less help. Not being afraid to ask for less work or to ask for more work. Not being afraid to pitch an idea that might challenge the way things have previously been done. Not being afraid to advocate for yourself and the needs of your students. I've just really come to see the importance of not being afraid especially as a student affairs professional. As advocates for the needs of our students, it's our responsibility to ask the tough questions, make the risky suggestion, or look like an idiot (so that the student's won't be afraid to).

Overall, this whole experience has been very validating as a future student affairs professional. I'm glad to have all of my experiences working with the Honors College in my tool belt.

Bryan Kelley Week 6: Mississippi State University Welcome Center

Activities:
-Research for new information to include in the Maroon VIP Handbook
-Revise Maroon VIP Hand Book
-Complete editing of Maroon VIP Handbook

Experience:

This past week was certainly a hectic but fulfilling one. Over the course of the week, my Resident Advisers moved into my building in preparation for the upcoming year in addition to beginning of Residence Life Leadership Training. Throughout this process I have been in the process of the final editing process of the Maroon VIP Handbook. All of this was occurring while Residence Director Training was coming to an end at the beginning of the week as well. Needless to say I was managing my time to the best of my ability in order to manage all of these different tasks.

Despite the amount of work and other tasks requiring my attention, I had a rather productive week with my practicum experience. My efforts this week were largely focused upon the completion of the editing process for the Maroon VIP Handbook. This process entailed me combing through the text and fixing any grammatical errors that might have occurred in addition to stylistic changes throughout that increased readability. That process alone took several hours to complete. After that completing that part of the revision process, I began to flesh out and condense information for the different tours offered by the Maroon VIP organization. Again, this took quite a bit of time to complete. The final part of the process was tackling the comprehensive building list in the book. After the different textual changes, I began to insert the different pictures of buildings on campus. As one might recall, these pictures were collected from University Relations in the previous week. After inserting and formatting the pictures, the Maroon VIP Workbook was complete. This was an extremely gratifying experience to know that the largest part of the practicum was complete on my end for the most part.

The most gratifying part of the whole practicum experience is to know that I have not only contributed to the Welcome Center here at Mississippi State University, but also the the field of Student Affairs as a whole through the creation of a better educative experience for the Maroon VIPs. Taking this into consideration, it made me think about my contribution to the student affairs field at large. There is almost an expectation that student affairs professionals should seek out doctorate degrees in order to not only prove their commitment to learning to other professionals in the field, but also to demonstrate the commitment to personal growth and development. After some thought, I determined that I most likely will not be pursing a doctorate degree. This is due to the fact that I feel I can demonstrate my commitment to the field through a vast variety of different actions and through my work in general. With that being said, I do think the doctorate degree is a special award that signifies a true dedication to the field and is certainly something that many different professionals should seek out over their course of their career if they are entirely certainly that the student affairs field is the field they will ultimately spend the rest of their career in.

Brent Varner: Student Support Services - Blog Post 6

Activities

• Finished the 100 hours of practicum work
• Finished implementing the new procedures for the ACCESS program

Experience

This week marks the end of my practicum experience with Student Support Services. It has been very eyeopening to see how another office is run here on campus. I will definitely take the skills I have learned over the course of this experience and translate them into my career, possibly with some sort of support services office! I went from knowing essentially nothing about support services, to having a working knowledge of how Mississippi State works to accommodate all students.

Jacob Haun, Week 6: Holmes Cultural Diversity Center

Activities

• Emailed professionals about speaking at training and finalized PAWS training
• did research of activities for HCDC activities for different presentations
• Met with Supervisor

Experience

It is really incredible to think that summer is already over. It is also a sad reality that my time with HCDC is quickly drawing to a close. I feel like this summer I have learned so much, and have been able to really expand my student affairs knowledge. If anything, this summer has furthered my excitement for my student affairs future. It proved that I can do different types of work, and have the capability to make things happen. 

Its interesting to think that I have already done so much in my graduate years, and it has been hard for me to admit that I am a professional. However, as the summer goes on I continue to think of myself as more and more of a professional. The things I do are not all that different than the things that those with masters degrees do, or even doctorates. The idea that I am maturing in my degree is a really weird feeling, and something that was specifically mentioned within the book. Working through this summer has made me really think hard about where I want to go in my future, and I think its safe to say that i am not sure. Specifically the authors of Chapter 8 speak about getting a doctorates degree or working practically in the field. I would agree with the book that educational excellence is important, and I do not think that a doctorates degree is completely out of the question. However, I think that knowing myself is also important. I want to experience the field, and also take some time to do other things besides school. At this point, I can't really say how long it will be, but I forsee a break in my educational future. 

Another really interesting piece of working in my internship was understanding the different places that are available to work at. Mississippi state is a public university, which I have grown very accustomed to. The book speaks about the three different institution types and I think it will be really hard to leave the large public lifestyle. I am not opposed but the job opportunity would have to introduce itself. 

This summer has offered many different lessons that I was happy to learn. First and foremost, is the importance of networking. The book has hit on this several different times, and I believe it to be true more than ever. Connections in student affairs are of the utmost importance because its the way things get done. In my assistantship in housing, I get things fixed because I have a personal connection with the person that needs to fix it. In my practicum this summer I used my experience from the university community to schedule individual meetings for the training I was working to set up. The book also spoke to being a problem solver. This was a real issue of concern this summer. I was handed essentially a list of last years training and a list of the concerns. I was told to make it better. Problem solving, I have found is kind of what student affairs majors are famous for. We handle all the things that no one else wants to do, and we have to be creative when we do it. Another interesting piece brought up in this week's reading from the book was having broad shoulders and small tear ducts. This really spoke to me, because it is such a hard yet important lesson to learn. You need to learn how to stand your ground and defend your position when you are working on something, and also how to handle things that are disappointing with grace and ease. I have learned that I get a lot farther on anything that I am working on when I can explain myself thoroughly and well.

The practicum experience has taught me a lot, and I am sad that this experience is over. However, perhaps another lesson I am learning is the art of moving on. Its time to create a new adventure, and learn new lessons.

Joshua Thompson: Office of Instituional Diversity and Inclusion - Week 6

Experience:

It feels kind of surreal looking back over the course of this summer and how fast that everything has gone. I did not expect to be able to come into my practicum and feel as professionally mature as I do as I am typing this post. I shared with you all that I was able to find my identity as a professional, which is something that I was really struggling with.

I feel as though I had a unique experience in working with my practicum site in that it is not typically one that is affiliated directly with Student Affairs. From coming here I feel as though I am more sure that Student Affairs is the position that I would like to be in for my desired profession. I gained tons of experience with the programming and coordination of events for minority student success, a student type that has been appealing to me sense I made that decision to become a student affairs professional. Also, I received a lot of "mentoring" from my direct supervisor, Gregory Hunley. He really broke things down for me in matters of professional practice. He established sort of an unspoken “open door" policy when it came to any questions or concerns that I had within the office. This relationship was very beneficial to me for my growth. He was also really good at providing feedback on some of my ideas, and telling me exactly why or why not it would be feasible for the office. I feel as though I worked really well with this type of direction, and in turn I learned more and gained valuable perspective. I would definitely consider him to be sort of an “mentor like figure” for me in terms of professional development.

Ending things I let him know that I would be open to possibly volunteering when possible to further see to it that programming efforts ran as efficiently as possible. I am very grateful for this experience as it ultimately helped me to come a few steps closer to where I would like to be professionally.

TiShawn Polk: Housing and Residence Life – Week 6

Activities:

-Attend new Residence Directors trainings

-Attend Weekly RLT committee meetings

-Shadow Facilities Maintenance Staff

-Meet with supervisor

Experience:

Now that my practicum experience is beginning to wrap up, I feel a little bitter sweet about it all. Sweet in the fact that I experienced more than I thought I would and made a lot of connections that I feel will last for years to come. I feel bitter knowing that I will have to leave these people and later have to find an internship site that’s as fun and informative. This prior week I left the RD retreat feeling revitalized. I would suggest this type of bonding activity for any office on a college campus because this type of interpersonal interaction just brings people closer together. Monday, I worked with Facilities and Maintenance Staff for Housing and Residence Life. I have to say this was one of the more intimidating experiences I’ve had on campus in a while. In the beginning, I felt like an outside, which I was. Later, two gentlemen named Donnie and Mr. John got a call to fix one of the RD’s shelves. We loaded up in an MSU truck and headed out to get some materials to make a new shelf. While riding, we did the normal chit chat type of talking and eventually Mr. John stopped and said, “Hey, I want you to be honest with me. Are you an undercover boss?” I have not laughed so hard in a long time, but I realized this was what the stand off was all about. It looks weird that a student will only be around for one day to see what Facilities and Maintenance does on a daily basis. After we had a good laugh, everyone relaxed a bit and I explained my purpose for being there.

I was able to see how fix-it tickets were submitted, who was responsible for fixing what, and even helped to construct a shelf from scratch. It was a welcomed relief from reading and doing classwork. In short, my facilities experience was awesome. Friday, I arrived on my practicum site to view the fire extinguisher and sprinkler tutorial. Here the fire chief and housing facilities explained how to put out a fire with a fire extinguisher and turn off a sprinkler with a special tool. When I say explained how to do these things, the fire chief lit a controlled fire and allowed each person to put it out with a fire extinguisher. This week in Housing was very hands on… no pun intended?

I’ve already mentioned the connections I have made with certain people in housing and the “Seek out and Develop Relationships” portion really sticks out to me. I am a friendly person when it comes to socializing with people, but I’ve always had trouble branching out and making that first contact. However, an RD recently told me it is 2% what you know and 98% who you know. In student affairs, the students make the career. From this point on, I will do my best to make an effort to connect with those around me, so that it will be easier for me to connect with the students I will potentially serve one day.

Nelda Bailey: Texas A&M University's Student Conduct Office Week Seven

Activities:

• Individual Supervision
• CHAMPS 101 Presentation
• Conduct Conferences
• Hazing Research
• Report Review
• Creating New Cases
• Student Leader Learning Outcomes (SLLO) Symposium
• ASCA Webinar
• Meeting with Academic Advisor
• Back on TRAC Staffing

Experience:

This week provided me a lot of room to branch out. I still had the opportunity to sit in and participate in conduct conferences. This week I was really excited to review reports and create new cases all on my own. Throughout my stay here, I have had the opportunity to observe both tasks and ask any questions on the procedure. I guess LJ wanted to test that I have been paying attention and assigned me three cases to report and create if they were appropriate. I was also able to participate in a CHAMPS 101 Workshop for the TAMU student athletes. This workshop gave me the opportunity to see how the office interacts within the department. Lastly, I was able to meet with an academic advisor to understand both her walk in student affairs and her current job. The office also allotted the opportunity for professional development through the SLLO Symposium and the ASCA Webinar. The SLLO Symposium focused a great speaker and information on assessments, and the ASCA Webinar was focused on presenting at professional conferences. Lastly, I was also given a research task to find information on new, effective, and cutting-edge sanctions and workshops on hazing.

The SLLO Symposium was held in this beautiful building named the Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building that amazingly does not hold a single classroom. This building is home to labs, meeting rooms, and professor’s offices.

Insight:

For me, this week related more to a previous chapter than this week’s reading. I think I had more networking opportunities than ever this week and the week coming. I have had the opportunity to meet and work with other student affairs professionals and departments in several different capacities. In conjunction, I also learned about myself in the process. This week reading focused on the importance of mentorship. As of now, I do not have an actual mentor only a Student Affairs Professional that I look up to. This practicum experience did provide me with the opportunity to see what a working family is. At TAMU, Cain Hall, including Student Conduct Office, works much like a family and comes together as one. Though I may not have an actual mentor, I do believe I have learned a lot from my Cain Hall Family.

Rachel Ross: [Whatever Week it is] with HCDC

Rachel Ross: [Whatever Week it is] with HCDC

Activity:

1.    One hour of supervision

Experience:

Throughout the summer, I have been dual-supervised by Mr. Cedric Gathings and Mrs. Ra’Sheda Forbes. This week, I met with Ra’Sheda to chat about my projects and progress throughout the summer.

We talked about how to transfer all the projects to other people in the office who have more permanent positions than myself. We also finalized some details about the numerous projects I was juggling throughout the summer. Like Cedric, she was quite impressed with my work ethic and my attention to detail. It is really cool to hear from both Cedric and Ra’Sheda that they were appreciative of my work ethic and presence in the office. Knowing that more than one person sees your abilities makes you have more confidence, and I definitely do after this experience in HCDC.

Our readings for this week were Chapter 8 & 11. Chapter 11 gave words of wisdom about finding a mentor who will invest time and energy in helping you develop into a professional. This was actually quite ironic, because I planned on asking Ra’Sheda if she would be one of my mentors. I noticed through numerous conversations that we work very similarly and I find her very knowledgeable when it comes to working and interacting with students; so, I thought she would be a really amazing mentor. Luckily when I asked, Ra’Sheda said yes. Once we established that relationship, we chatted about supervising techniques and advice that she had for me for the upcoming school year as an RD working with new RAs. I am so lucky to have had this experience, and specifically gain a mentor out of the deal! Cheers!

Whitney Dedmon- The Career Center- Week 6

Activities:

• Worked on MSU Major List
• Participated in an individual student meeting for a personal statement
• Participated in a Dinner Etiquette program for student athletes
• Critiqued student resumes

Reflections:

     This week has consisted a lot of working around the office. This is definitely a change from June for orientations that were incredibly busy. I continued my work on the MSU Major List and am getting closer to getting it organized and figuring out how to make it work. Also, I began to think of a few new ideas for the list of how to arrange the majors. I am working on creating two versions of it and I will ask Cassandra and some others in the office which ones they think will be the most effective. Both of them will work just fine, it will just depend on what they intend to use the list for. I am really enjoying working with the different technology programs I need to update the list. It is teaching me several skills that will definitely come in handy in the future. As well as this, I was able to take some time and critique some resumes for students. I really enjoyed doing this and communicating with the students as we went through several drafts of the resumes until they were complete. And, I got to take part in another individual meeting with a student to help her write her and correct her personal statement for her application to dental school. I very much love working with all of these students and hearing their different stories and experiences and what they believe they can bring to their future profession. Lastly, I was able to attend my second Dinner Etiquette program for the student athletes. I absolutely love these events and being able to work with the athletes. This program consisted of several different sports such as football, soccer, volleyball, and basketball. These events are just so beneficial for these students to teach them the skills they need to be successful in the recruiting and professional world.

     I feel as if parts of my practicum relate directly to our readings about ethics this week, specifically in the relationships with students. For example, many of the students that come into our office that I am helping to advise on their personal statements are the same age as me or, sometimes, even older. When they know that I am a graduate student, sometimes, I feel as if I am seen as their friend because I am about in the same stage in life. I have to work hard to make sure that my relationships with these students is a professional one and that I am not just seen as a peer. This way when I give advice, those students will listen to it and be willing to use it. To maintain this professional relationship, I believe in setting very specific boundaries. Because of those boundaries, all of the students I have worked with have been very willing to work with me. This is something I feel that I will continue to get better at as time passes. I really enjoy working with students and building trustful relationships with them, and my practicum is helping me to develop those skills and become a better professional.