I accepted a graduate assistant (GA) position with the housing office at my graduate school after being told I would be able to create student-centered programs and establish traditions. Instead such opportunities to establish traditional-laden programs were few and far between. I felt like I was barely more than a paper pusher in housing who unfortunately had to helplessly watch student after student be forced to move out of housing and back home for academic or financial reasons. By the time I was meeting and conversing with students it was often too late; their fate was sealed and there was nothing I can do to keep them from leaving school It wouldn't be until the start of my second year in grad school that I would find myself in the position to actually help students. That's not how I was taught to lead at my undergraduate institution, Eastern Connecticut State University.
At Eastern I was a member of a student-run organization that was committed to developing young leaders named M.A.L.E.S. which stood for Men Achieving Leadership, Excellence, and Success. I was a minority in this group as I came from a well-off middle class family whereas many of my brothers came from less well-off backgrounds. Despite our different socioeconomic backgrounds a group of young men, over time, formed lifelong bonds. I learned much in my three years as a M.A.L.E.S. member but what I took away the most from my time was that you always have to look out for those close to you. Luckily our advisers were esteemed men on campus, such as the Dean of Students, who would do everything in his power to help myself and the other young men in the organization if they were ever in any danger of having to leave the university for any reason, especially financially.
I could go on and on about how M.A.L.E.S. shaped me both as an individual and as an aspiring professional in Student Affairs but what matters is what was "lost in translation" during my transition from Eastern to the south.
Still, my first couple months as a graduate assistant (GA) went by smoothly. I had limited housing experience as an undergrad but honestly, I feel success in Student Affairs is found when those in any student services office care more about students than the bottom line. That's the way I approached housing but I learned that housing can be prone to placing more emphasis on numbers than people. My mantra has been to put students first because, as a student myself, I always want what's in my best interests.
Housing is very tough though. I felt a certain connection with the residents in my community as I was a recent college graduate and the members of my community were largely from the newest freshman class plus some upperclassmen peppered in here and there. As mentioned earlier, hurts the most is seeing students leaving and feeling as if by the time I was seeing students there was nothing I could do about their situation. That's not what situation that roused my interest in Student Affairs (SA). I wish to help students directly, I want them to know of the services available to them via their tuition dollars, and I want them to be successful. If you're cut from this cloth and have a healthy dose of politics in you so you can manage to secure funding despite strict budgets whenever possible, then I feel you can be successful with SA.
I care about retention but more so on the student-side. I want students to be successful and it hurts me when I see others not helping students when they are in a position to do so. My first year in grad school was one of my hardest years so far but I wouldn't change anything. I learned a lot and I learned where I really wanted to be within SA and what I needed to do to get there.
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