Center for Student Activities: Stephane Tchang (Week 3)

Activities:

• Attend the last student orientation organization fair
• Research and inquire information about other student activities offices at other institutions
• Sit in on the first Bulldog Bash meeting of the summer
• Looked into other institutions’ websites and provide suggestions for reformatting the current Center for Student Activities webpage
• Help select photos for an upcoming art gallery display
• Contact student organizations about acquiring a group photo, along with having the student organizations fill out an informational blurbs

Experience:

This past week, I have been able to really learn more about what student activities looks like in the world of student affairs. By contacting different student activities offices across the nation and by reading the monthly e-journal released by the National Association for Campus Activities, I have come to learn that many offices are structured differently. For example, at the Johnson & Wales University (JWU) in Denver, CO, the student activities office oversees campus activities, student organizations, orientation, multicultural programming, and first-year initiatives. I was astounded that this office took on as much as it did, and I came to find out that JWU is a campus of about 1,500 students. As such, it made sense that this office would tackle things of this magnitude, but it surprised me that this office, which comprises of 3 professional staff with 2 student assistants, ran all these different initiatives.

Outside of researching other student activities offices, I was also able to help in selecting the art work for an upcoming art gallery showcase. The Center for Student Activities wanted to try implementing a new project, utilizing the art gallery to commemorate the impact Hurricane Katrina had on Mississippi. Although the media focused on primarily on Louisiana at the time of the disaster, Mississippi was also hit pretty hard by the storm. As such, the Center for Student Activities staff thought it would be a great thing to be able to remember that Hurricane Katrina was an event that also directly affected the people of Mississippi. Even though I have only been working in the office for a few weeks, being able to work on this project and help decide which photos to use for the art gallery has really made my time working with the Center for Student Activities worthwhile. I not only get the opportunity to observe, but I am also able to actually work and gain experience as a professional within the student activities office.

And lastly, I think the best part of the week so far is that I have been able to reach out to different student organizations to collect photos and information. I initially did not know what to expect from practicum, and had been under the assumption that I just showed up to the office and only observed what was happening. As such, I am happy I got to do more than that, as I am now able to gain a deeper and better understanding of what it means to be a student affairs professional in a student activities office.  

Theory Application:

Throughout my time at the Center for Student Activities, and especially at the organization fair during student orientation, I have started to notice the importance of getting students involved in the college and university environment. I found myself telling students how to get involved, and where to seek more information if they were looking to join a specific student organization. Even more so, I was selling and emphasizing the importance of getting involved on campus, from partaking in events hosted by the Center for Student activities to joining a student organization.

As I thought about theory and how that applied to what I was doing during my practicum, I quickly realized I believed in Alexander Astin’s Theory of Involvement. In his theory, Astin concludes that students perform academically better if they engage themselves in extracurricular activities outside of the class room (Astin, 1999).  As such, it is important for students to be engaged and involved in a college setting outside of academics. The reason for why I pushed so heavily for student involvement is because I subconsciously, at the time, wholeheartedly agreed and believed in Astin’s theory. Getting and being involved in college helps you to not only socially plug yourself, but it serves as an avenue to help you distress and not be consumed by just academics.

Reading Application:

This week, I read chapter 3, which addressed the topic of ethics. How do we as student affairs professionals uphold and practice our own ethics? Being in the Center for Student Activities, I realized as a student affairs professional, you are always ethically challenged. From advising students to forming contracts and overseeing budgets, Center for Student Activities student affairs professionals always have to reassess their ethics, especially since they are always faced with the possibility of  “bending the rules” for others due to the amount of money they have oversight of for student events and activities. For me, this chapter was really insightful because I don’t think we talk about ethics enough in higher education, outside of policy violations. Everyone assumes there is a standard code of ethics everyone should just understand without mention, but this leads to political corruptness and chaotic work environments. Having read this chapter, I realized how important it is for me to retain my own ethics and abide by it even when the environment I am in challenges me to disregard it. I hope that as I continue my practicum, I look further into how the staff members within the Center for Student Activities maintain and establish their own ethics in the workplace.

References:

Astin, W. A. (1999). Student involvement: A developmental theory for higher education. Journal of College Student Development, 40 (5), 519 – 529.