NASPA 2016: Indianapolis, IN

Hello everyone,

Elenna here again! Conference time is just around the corner and I am excited as ever! This year, NASPA will take place in Indianapolis, IN and there are a chock full of things that I am excited for.

NUFP Buddy

As an alumnus of the M/NUFP program, I get a chance to mentor a current NUFP fellow, just like I have when I went in 2014 in Baltimore, MD. I learned a lot from the experience and I will gladly like to share my experiences with my NUFP buddy.Some of the things that I will do with them are as follows:

• A small gift exchange. We will be exchanging gifts from out respective institutions
• Resume review. I think that this is an important aspect into getting into any program or getting a graduate assistantship. I want to share a few tips and tricks that I have learned and also will print out my own resume from when I first went to NASPA and compare.
• Talk about my experience. As someone who neither has a graduate assistantship nor a job, it is important to let them know that this is a realistic thing that can happen. I will also tell them about what sparked me to get into student affairs and encourage them to continue to press on even if things look difficult. I also want to know more about them and their interests.
• Attend one or two sessions with each other. I think that it's important to learn about the different competencies that are involved in professional development as well as personal development in student affairs. By attending different sessions, we would get to learn about how other institutions approach different problems and maybe take things back with us to our own schools.
• Lunch. This is pivotal because this will give us time to decompress and reflect on the couple of days that we will be there. 

Graduate Mentee

I also signed up to be a mentee as a graduate student. Knowing that I have a lot to give to this field, but not knowing how to express my experience, I think that this is a great opportunity for me to get more help as well as gain insight.

First Time Attendee Mentor

It looks like my schedule is really packed this year. I will be mentoring a first time attendee, who is a professional. I hope to share my experience with them and encourage then to attend their own regional conferences as well!

Graduate Fair

For those of you who do not know I am going to be representing Hofstra University at NASPA's graduate fair. I will be speaking on my experience as a grad student as well as what my  program has to offer.

I will be vlogging some of the things I do at the conference and probably will ask some peopleI know to be in it.

See you all in Indy!

Starting to Dabble in Art Again

It's been a while since I've actually been motivated to draw or do anything else creative. With my interest in becoming a Student Affairs Professional for art schools, I want to do my best to cater to the art students by being true to myself. So I have decided to go back into getting into my art projects. I have some drawings that I've done over the past few months in my sketchbook. Here's one of them:

This is a picture of Kat Blaque, a YouTuber I admire a lot because she speaks the truth as a trans woman of color and size. I really love how much that she has influenced me to keep on drawing and never give up. She has also inspired me to stay "woke" (aware of social justice issues in the world today) in a "sleep" (ignorant or refusal to see any social justice issues in the world today) society.

I only own the Neutral Gray Copic Markers so far, but I intend on growing my collection as soon as I have enough money to buy them (they aren't cheap, about $6 to $7 per marker).

She has a great amount of influence in a lot of people's lives and even speaks at colleges now aside from her YouTube gig and Everyday Feminism posts. I was lucky to meet her last month and I am still grateful for meeting her.

I have also done a couple more pictures that I will share with you all in the next few weeks when I am done with school and I am not working for the season.

I will be creating a YouTube channel/series called "Student Affairs Animator" where I will be animating and vlogging current topics that I wish to talk about that goes on in the student affairs and higher education field. I have also created a Patreon for those who wish to become my Patrons. This will include both my Student Affairs Animator project and my fictional project, Serenity Chronicles, which I have been working on for the past eight years.

I hope to use this opportunity to improve on my art and to do what I love the most: being creative.

Thank you for reading!

#SAReflects: Planning the Future

One of the most memorable moments I've had as an #SAGrad so far is writing my personal and professional development plan for my future as an #SAPro. Here's the assignment as follows:

Students will develop and submit a personal/professional career development plan.  In this paper, discuss your professional goals including what type of positions you expect to have, how long do you hope to stay in each position, in what type of institution (size, location, type) do you hope to work?  What are your personal and professional development experiences you hope to gain to support your career development plan?  Avoid simply listing the information, discuss your rationale and motivation behind your responses.   Examine the Chronicle of Higher education or other sources for jobs in higher education that might interest you. Submit a copy of an ad for a job that is of interest to you along with a cover letter and current resume as if you were applying for that job.

I had a problem at first, because I was (and still am) torn between so many different paths such as Residential Life, Student Activities, Mental Health/Health Education and Career Counseling. I told my professor that I really wasn't sure as to what I wanted to do. All I knew was that I wanted to work at an AICAD serving institution or any other art school. I did however tell her I was interested in the Creative Arts Therapy Masters Degree because I did want to incorporate my love of art as well as my love of educating and assisting people.

Like the worrywart I am, I was worried about the assignment being too long or too much like a narrative. She gave me a smile and said that it's fine that it seems like a narrative, as long as it had to deal with my personal growth as a student affairs professional.

But what my professor made us understand through this assignment is that even though you're not sure about what you want to do outright in the future, it's still good to plan ahead. You'll never know what the future holds. Here's what my first paragraph looks like:

When asked about my personal and professional development, I get a bit overwhelmed. There are many opportunities in the realm of student affairs that I would indeed like to explore or delve deeper as both a graduate student and a new student affairs professional. Some of the areas that I would like to explore are New and Transfer Student Orientation, Admissions, Institutional Research and Public Relations and Health Counseling or Education. The areas that I would like to reexamine as well as delve deeper into are Student Activities/Student Engagement or Involvement, Career and Residence Life/Residential Programs. If I were to narrow down my choices to the top three to start in my Student Affairs Professional career, I would choose either Residential Life, Health Counseling/Education, or Student Activities/Student Engagement or Involvement. Through my experience at my undergraduate institution, SUNY College at Old Westbury, these three positions have impacted and shaped my own path to become a part of the Higher Education and Student Affairs realm. I know that eventually, I would like to become a Dean of Students.

 Although the future does seem forever away, it still doesn't hurt to plan ahead. If you don't get to do some of those plans that you had down before, it's the end goal that matters the most.

Ferguson, MO

After hearing that Darren Wilson, a Caucasian American at the age of 28 was not indicted, I was disappointed, but not surprised. Seeing that the United States of America in 2014 was still subject to racial injustice makes me feel uncomfortable. Watching St. Louis, MO being burned and looted makes my skin crawl as I sit by my computer looking up the public's reaction.

How do I feel about the whole decision? As an African American woman with an African American male significant other makes me even more skeptical of raising children in the United States. Especially with related cases like Trayvon Martin (Florida) and Eric Garner (New York). Just seeing that things like this could happen close to home makes me queasy. It is indeed sad that sooner or later African American people who are educated might be targeted next.

Seeing news reports from the former mayor of New York City, Rudy Giuliani makes me see that America should stop seeing other issues that, yes should be addressed, but are not exactly relevant to the topic at hand. Here is the video I am talking about here. In this video, Rudy Giuliani states that “White police officers wouldn't be there, if you weren't killing each other.”

It is true that there is a lot of black on black crime, but to bring up black on black crime when the issue at hand was about white on black crime is unnecessary. Hearing that line made me sick to the stomach. It makes me sick that people who are in power are glorifying as well as justifying not only white on black crime, but authority privilege. What do I mean by authority privilege? Anything form of abuse of power.

What can we do about fighting both racial privilege and authority privilege? We should come together as people, no matter what race, socioeconomic background and other demographic classifications and report these injustices. True, social media is indeed impactful, but having another one of our American children become a hashtag is extremely disappointing and morbid. Bringing ourselves to loot and commit arson also doesn't help the situation; it however (sadly) gives others reasons why people are classified the way that they are. We should go back to our roots like the Civil Rights Movement and protest these unjust actions by using civil disobedience instead of violent riots and protests. We should have our politicians and police commissions reflect and alter their program in lieu of cases such as Martin, Garner and Brown.

What can we do as educators? What we should always do: hold discussions about these issues. Further educate yourself as well as the students you work with about these issues. They are indeed our future and in order to help reduce incidents like these are to teach your students about the privileges that some have over others.

Until we do come together to fix this problem, my own generation of African American males and females will be subject to racism based off of what the media glorifies and what politicians use to add insult to injury. We will still face demise as America goes in a nosedive backwards in history.

My first week as an #SAGrad

Just like any kid, teenager or young adult would, they are nervous about the first day of school. Whether you are in a school or institution of higher education for a while, this is your first time entering your new school, or you are transferring in, the first day jitters always settle in.

Going into my first year of grad school was (and still is) scary to me because there are things that you don't expect or you do expect them, but the outcomes aren't what you thought they would be.

I was used to living on campus in my undergrad that I was reliant on public transportation only on weekends when I went home (if I went home because of the many different leadership positions I held). But now the script flipped -- I am a commuter, living an hour (on a really good day and if I catch my trains and bus on time).

How does this relate to student affairs? Adaptation and time management. With student affairs constantly changing (from policies to how campus culture changes), we must work to those changes. In order to do that, we need to delegate time to developing the changes made. If the changes are bad, how would we work to change for the next time around?

Also with time management, we must fix our schedules to accommodate for the changes. What if something good or bad happens in the middle of a change? Will we have enough time left over to fix the changes, or will we have to sacrifice things in our extremely hectic schedules?

I had to learn on my own how to travel to get to school on time. I even had to find alternatives if I missed the shuttle bus from the station (e.g. public transportation or asking a friend for a ride).

Now that I am entering my 4th session, I am getting used to my (exhausting) route from home to school. I have apps that help me catch my trains and busses on time and I work hard to give input into class discussions.

Thank you for reading!

Around Montreal, Quebec.

For the past two weeks, I have been in a town not too far from Montreal called Verdun, where my aunt lives with my cousin and her two children. I took this trip to relieve some previous stress and anxiety before entering my first day of Graduate school this coming Tuesday.

Instead of talking more about my trip, I'll show you some pictures. Though I haven't really traveled much around Montreal,  I still had a good time! Below are some of my surroundings when I did go out on the town.

 How does my trip apply to Student Affairs? For one thing, after a long and stressful semester or full on school year, we need a rest so that we will be fully charged to handle the next task. It's hard being a super hero/heroine to the students of your institution. It is extremely important that you take a break for yourself or else you'll be burned out way before you know it.

If you are in the burn out stage, it is best that you take some time for yourself, even if it is brief. Take a walk, dedicate 30 minutes to alone time, do some breathing exercises; the possibilities to release the stress are endless.

Another way this applies to student affairs is learning about the world around you. Globalization is important, especially if you wish to learn about different nations and how they go about things. During my stay in Quebec, I (still) have limited language knowledge (the primary language of Quebec is French). Though I did know a few bits and pieces of French, I still had some anxious times where I found it hard to express myself. 

My cousin reassured to me (plenty of times) that the Quebecois speak English too. There were plenty of times where I forgot about this too and was too shy to ask.

From what I've seen around me in Quebec, it is A LOT neater, friendlier and more beautiful than where I live, New York City. Now don't get me wrong, there are a lot of beautiful places in the city that never sleeps, but being in a different atmosphere didn't make me hate where I live. I'm a New Yorker and will always be one. But sometimes, we do need a change in pace.

Having "Learner" as my 5th strength in my recent Strengths Quest, I wanted to know more about Quebec -- even more about Canada itself. For example, I've learned that they have eliminated their pennies or one cent coins (interesting eh?). Also, since this is on the news a lot, free health care. Taxes are distributed better according to income. Even seeing a lot of "Grown in Canada" or "Made in Canada" made me excited. 

The question I have been asked a lot while I was here was "Would you want to live in Canada?" My answer to that is yes. Yes because I love the environment. It is pretty friendly to me and I would love to visit other parts of Canada. I would even study French harder in order to communicate better with my family as well as the people in Quebec.

Now that my time up here is done, I am refreshed to start school on September 2nd. Thank you very much for reading!

Bridging the Gap Campus Wide

Two weeks ago on the Student Affairs Collective's weekly #SAChat, there was discussion about training student leaders. There were many topics discussed such as bringing alumni, faculty, staff and even outside guests into student leadership training. As a former Resident Assistant and a former member of my undergraduate institution's Student Government, I remember my first RA training, we had a lot of in house sessions (in house in this case meaning with in the department) from the RDs and even second and third year RAs.

But the most important part that was discussed during this #SAChat was on bringing faculty into student leadership training. Faculty play the academic part on all college campuses. Some may even play as an advisor of a student organization. Introducing faculty into student leadership training helps bridge the gap between academics and student affairs.

I would assume that a lot of professors care about educating the students. Just by bringing them into leadership training would help bring in their concerns for their students and what they would like to see in the advancement of the institution.

Another important part of leadership training is bringing in other individuals from different departments in Student Affairs. Collaboration is a keyword in this. It is important to use what you have around you to create efficient, fun and educational environment for your target audience.

I remember asking my Health Educator in my institution for help and inspiration for my program "What Makes You Beautiful?", a program about body image in both young men and women. She pointed me in the right direction by bringing the idea to out Active Minds chapter. (For those who do not know about Active Minds, it is a national organization made to change the conversation about mental health.) Together we created a space for students to discuss their concerns as well as state their opinions about body image.

In closing, remember this quote one of my favorite RDs would say "teamwork makes the dream work." Without team work, would there be institutions of higher education? We need to utilize our nearby resources.