Appreciation.

We all long for the feeling of appreciation. In fact, sometimes we need it to continue our passions in life...or do we. While I am not yet anywhere near and expert on Student Affairs, I am an expert in my myriad of leadership and student life experiences that have taught me something early on. We cannot expect appreciation, we cannot let it be the source of our energy, especially when appreciation isn't always shown in the most obvious ways. Something that a Peer Advisor struggles with, as I'm sure many in the profession do at one point or another, is not feeling appreciated. But why? Why do we need the verbal or visual respect of appreciation? Maybe it is just me, but sometimes, you just will not be and other times you will not know you are. Humans are hilarious. We have no problem fist-pumping, dancing like no one is watching, or become completely intoxicated in public...but to show how much you care and appreciate someone is a complete challenge. Showing our emotions is a problem. Opening up...well, it can sometimes take a professional to do that.

What I have lived by in my experiences is that you just can't allow yourself to be bogged down by the way someone shows lack of respect and appreciation. Most of the time, we forget the simple "thank you" or don't realize how body language of actions can lead others to believe you are unappreciative. As a student leader or professional, we really go out of our way for our students more than they will ever understand. If you understand that going into it, or you help them understand -- you will become less bothered by a lack of appreciation. You have to remember that you never did the job to be appreciated. You did the job because you care, and because you want to make a difference. Just know that you made a difference and don't expect to see that difference. Focus on the ones who do let you know how much you have done for them, and focus on those ones. Do not focus on the negative, focus on the positive. That's my biggest piece of advice to anyone who feels under appreciated.

Remember why you do what you do, and stay positive on the ones who energize you. When you focus on the negative you are asking for trouble and unhappiness.

A-Ram

Currently Missing...

*This is Nancy, Myself, & Matt -- Student Orientation Coordinators 2011*

I miss seeing them every day, I got used to it and now it's just gone. Now they 

are off doing big bad things in as Undergraduate Admissions Interns. 

Can't wait to be in the field with them, they are going to do great things!

*These are the 2011-2012 Peer Advisors of California Lutheran University*

These are the guys I was talking about below. The ones who are 

the reason I know exactly what I should be doing with my life!

I wouldn't have spent the last three months of my life any other way than 

preparing for their arrival to CLU to train to be the best PAs everrrr! LOVE <3

Next Move, Big Move

I have now officially had my first week off since the end of Orientation. My job as an SOC is over in employment terms, but will be continuous into the fall. To be perfectly honest, I thought I knew what I was getting myself into back in December 2010 with the SOC position, but now that it's over, I am really taking the time to process all that happened. February for an SOC is extremely busy, hard, and overwhelming. You are in interviews or reading applications pretty much every day, and you still have homework, clubs, jobs, and anything else you have going on...like Peer Advising duties. While the most stressful month, it's one of the best. Then you get to summer, you're sitting at a computer day-in and day-out. Hardly anyone is on campus, and you get bored real easily. Three months of work, turns into Peer Advisor Training and New Student Orientation. The moment August 19, 2011 rolled around, I was extremely excited. I was so pumped for the Peer Advisors to arrive I couldn't sleep the night before. I was also nervous of what the final product of Prep Week would look like, but more importantly, I was worried about how it would all be ending soon. The 8 days of prep week were probably the best 8 days out of my whole summer. I'm so proud of how well the peer advisors worked together, meshed together, and most of all supported and loved each other by the end of day two. I remember thinking back to all their pictures on the wall during selection and not really comprehending what it would all look like, but oh man, did they really show me. These peer advisors, were a product of the hard work myself and my staff put in. They were the product of the blood, sweat, and tears that all came before they got there. They worked hard, giving up a weeks worth of pay from jobs, leaving families early, and being disconnected for a week from anyone...all because they cared about the new students. It takes a lot to be a Peer Advisor. There's no financial reward, just pure satisfaction of knowing you are making a difference. They have no idea how they impacted my life. I went from not having a clue of what the next step would be after summer ended, to knowing exactly, without a doubt what I should be doing with my life. They gave me purpose and a sense of direction and proved to me that no matter the pay, at the end of the day, I loved every 16 hour day I put in with them. If you are a Peer Advisor from 2011, and you stumbled on my blog, thank you for making me realize what it is I should be doing with my life. Thank you for being so amazing, that I want nothing more than to go to grad school next year. If I ever get to work with students that are half of what you are, my job is exactly what I want it to be.

Setting the Tone -- A Glimpse Into the Past, Pt. II

So, I last left you with my positions as a Peer Advisor and Student Leadership & Programs intern at CLU. Prior to walking into my senior year, I was an assistant manage for Vector Marketing, selling Cutco Cutlery. I had been with them for the previous two years and was well on my way into a management position post-graduation. As I entered Peer Advisor training and the fall semester I was also moving forward with the idea of managing my own office post-graduation, until I figured out the graduate school thing. I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do. I was excited about my management opportunity all the way until after I went on the company trip to Niagra Falls. The following weekend was the First-Year Retreat, a program designed to help first-year students find their niche at CLU. This was something I planned with KP and another intern that I was extremely excited about. This also ended up being the beginning of the hardest month of my life. While attending the first-year retreat I became completely unsure about what I wanted. I wanted to attend grad school, I wanted to go into student affairs but I also felt obligated to management opportunity. I didn't know what to do. Needless to say, I wasn't the most active during the retreat because of the emotional roller coaster I was on.

The end of November was nearing and I rushed to sign up for the GRE, began picking schools to apply to extremely fast...and then applications for Student Orientation Coordinator (SOC) came out. Suddenly, I was going back and forth on grad school, SOC, management opportunity, and the study abroad field. I finally spoke with an alum of CLU who was my student body president and was in her first year of the SAHE program at Colorado State University. She encouraged me to really think about what I wanted, and that it was okay to not go to grad school yet and figure it out. She also encouraged me to apply for the SOC position as it would give me great insight into the field if I was selected. Low and behold, I applied, not expecting to get the position as a graduating senior but thought I would just go for the experience. I knew I had to go into the interview with a decision on grad school, so I decided the minute I went into my interview that I was not attending grad school. I didn't want any possibility of hurting my chances at getting the position because of my uncertainty. I interviewed, in what I thought was my worst interview other, later I found out it was apparently my best. In the end, I was selected as SOC with two others, and suddenly all my stress went away. I backed down from my opportunity with Vector Marketing & Cutco, and moved forward with my life. Still unsure about where graduate school would come into my life, I began the spring semester of my senior year, excited and ready to take on this position. 

A-Ram

Setting The Tone -- A Glimpse Into The Past, Pt. I

First off, I'd like to welcome you to my blog. While this is mostly a streamline of my thoughts and ideas as I begin my application processes for grad school, I hope those of you who stumble upon my blog can learn something as well. Recently, I graduated from California Lutheran University (CLU) with a B.A in Political Science & B.S in Criminal Justice. Yay, for two degrees! Four years ago, I was set about what I was doing with my life...these two degrees were my way to prepare for law school and becoming a District Attorney. It wasn't until I returned from my two consecutive semesters away/abroad in Washington, D.C and Semester at Sea did anything begin to change.

Prior to leaving CLU for two semesters, I had not had the best of experiences. I came into CLU with the intention to transfer but my peer advisor advised me to stay through the whole year. By the end of the spring semester, I waited to see if I was selected as peer advisor as my last hope for a chance to find myself at my school. Once I was selected, and and re-elected for student government the following year, things were starting to fall into place...or so I thought. By the time I reached Peer Advisor training two weeks before the start of school, my life started to take a slow, but sure, turn for the worst. I was forced to resign from my position on student government after an obsessive commitment and effort throughout the previous year and training with the Peer Advisors wasn't exactly what I was expecting. My friends suddenly changed at the start of the year, and I didn't know where I belonged. I unfortunately turned to negative habits in the first semester of my sophomore year and was extremely unhappy, I felt I had nothing left but to run. So I ran all the way to study abroad office. Little did I know, that the first run to the study abroad office would change my life forever, but it would take just a little more than year.

During the spring semester of my junior year, my first semester back to CLU after being gone for a year, I began to see that law school just wasn't the right option for me. I needed something more fulfilling but wasn't quite sure what that was. I felt lost again, with no solid friends and nothing attached as far as CLU went. I reapplied to be a peer advisor for my senior year and again received the position. I also applied to be a Student Leadership & Programs intern, as while I attended Semester at Sea I had a similar position on the ship. A light bulb finally went off that maybe, I could get into this field that my mentor and boss Kristin Price (KP) was in. Let it be known, that obtaining these two positions, was probably the best thing that could have happened to me. This is part one of my story...and this is the extremely shortened version of it. Part two will go deeply into where I am today as by the end of junior year, I was still extremely confused. Part two consists of my entire senior year to present day.

A-Ram