Excited that I had finally made a decision on my career, I decided to take some action on learning more about the field of Higher Education by exploring different departments at school. In addition to continuing to work for the advising department, I also started working in commuter student programs.
I was talking to my supervisor for commuter student programs one day and she was talking to me about how I have people on this campus who can serve as incredible resources towards me learning about Higher Education. She mentioned that our VP for Student Development and Campus Life used to be the President for NASPA, but I didn't know what NASPA was. So I went home that day and did some research. I had taken a look at other associations for Higher Education professionals, but I had yet to find one that offered something for Undergraduate students and I was really excited when I saw the opportunities NASPA had to offer.
Later that week, I went into my mentor's office (probably for a piece of candy) and she asked me if I wanted to go to a conference. Immediately, I said "yes" and then took a few steps back and asked her what it was for and she told me it was conference for students interested in Student Affairs and it was from NASPA. I became really excited as I had just learned about NASPA a few days ago and now I was given the opportunity to not only learn more about NASPA, but the field of Higher Education as well.
My friend and I found ourselves in an adventure on our way to PACE University for the NASPA, Region II Conference which involved talking to random strangers and running across light rails. We soon saw one of the graduate interns in our department who was also going to the conference crossing the street and we found our way to PACE University.
The conference was eye-opening in that I didn't really realize how many different things I could do within the field. My biggest concern that was figuring out what part of Higher Education I was going to go into. I had been working a lot in the academic side of Higher Education and had just begun exploring the student activities aspect of it. During one of the presentations, there was a person named Josh who worked at Columbia University and we seemed to have similar experiences in that he was also a commuter student and an Orientation leader for a few years and his involvement on campus always grew. I spoke to him afterwards expressing my concern and asked him how he chose student activities and opposed to academics. I don't remember exactly what he said, but his main message was that it was the skills that mattered. The skills learned in one job could translate to other positions and they could fall in any aspect of Student Affairs and now that I think of some of the people I work with at school, it's true. I just think it's really cool how many opportunities there are in one field.
I went to a bunch of other workshops that involved graduate studies, figuring out if Higher Education is the right career path, resume development, and leadership. At the end of the leadership presentation, the presenter put up a list, which can kind of be seen as 10 keys to leadership and I thought it'd be nice to share:
1. Never lose sight of the ultimate goal, but focus anxiety on short term objectives
2. Set a personal example with visible, memorable symbols and behaviors
3. Instill optimism and self-confidence, but stay grounded in reality
4. Take care of yourself: maintain your stamina and let go of guilt
5. Reinforce the team message constantly
6. Minimize status differences and insist on courtesy and mutual respect
7. Master conflict. Deal with anger in small doses and engage dissidents
8. Lighten up! Find something to celebrate and something to laugh about
9. Be willing to take a big risk
10. Foster a spirit of tenacious creativity. Never give up. There is always another move.
To sum it up, I really enjoyed the conference and I've been even more excited to go into the field since then. Everything was great about it: the people, the energy, the dedication. I was happy.
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