Jacob Haun, Holmes Cultural Diversity Center Week 5

Experience

• Met with Supervisor about finalizing training
• Finalized speakers for training
• Did research for additional resources for student groups

Activities

This week along with much of my continued post might sound a little repetitive because my time with the office is nearing a close. However, it has been a really fulfilling experience that has helped me to truly understand the very wide options that are open within student affairs. It has also helped me in understanding some different perspectives in the student affairs world.

One particular piece of student affairs that proves to be interesting is Ethics. There is not necessarily a standard set of ethics that one particular office uses. Rather their are individual organizations that provide guidelines for responsible behavior by offices representing different topics. 

Working this summer I have learned a lot about ethical ways to work through difficult topics. My specific internship deals with diversity, which can be a very sticky topic especially taking into account the region in which we live. It has been an important lesson to learn for me to understand what my own individual ethics are in regards to working. I think one of the most important lessons that I have learned is that decisions are not always easy to make and that they might not always yield good results. My practicum this summer taught me that sometimes you just have to make the decision that will answer the problem, not always the one that works the best. 

Another way that I understood ethics this summer was through the work in training of student staff. In working with the PAWs mentor programs, i found that it was important to make sure that our students understood the various types of situations that they are going to be coming into contact with. I think it is important that our student staff is well prepared and able to work with our students from all different backgrounds.