Thursday, October 24, 2013

First Professional Conference...CHECK!

I attended my first professional conference last week and it was blast!

I was kind of nervous for the conference because I was taking time off work and I had heard from a few second years that they thought it was a waste of time. I took this all with a grain of salt because everyone has different experiences at conferences depending on the speakers and sessions they attended. I thought the second years would have been more excited for us and would try to give more advice than complain about their experiences, but maybe I was talking to the wrong ones.
          
I did get some good advice before we left though. I was told to make sure I attended the sessions I want to attend, and not just go to the ones that everyone else was going to. That’s always been something though for me to do, but I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and went to a few sessions all by myself. This was a good decision, because I was able to get some reflection in before the session started. Since conferences are always  on the go, it can be tough to really think and reflect on what you’ve been learning, which is why I typically felt I never came away with new information after a conference. I just never had the time to reflect on what I was learning.
            
The biggest take away from this conference for me was motivation! I had been feeling unmotivated in the preceding weeks because things weren't really going as I had expected them to be going. When I was in my undergrad, I had all this energy to work with the students and plan events, but I was already starting to feel some burnout since I was only focusing on student affairs. I’m a person that needs variety in life, so it’s been tough to constantly be thinking about students at work, in class, and in my personal life. However, after this conference, I gained back the motivation I was losing plus some! The speakers were genuinely passionate and excited about working with students and that rubbed off on me.
           
 The reason I think this conference went so well is that I went with open mind. I went to the sessions that sounded interesting to me, didn't worry about where the others were going and I came away with some great knowledge and ideas I can’t wait to implement into my assistantship.  

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Public vs. Private Institutions: A Game of Numbers?

I’ve been at a public institution for almost two months now, and I’ve been noticing a few significant differences from my private undergrad institution.

First, when the protesters came to campus a couple weeks ago, I was confused as to why no one was asking them to leave. You see, at North Central, If anyone came to campus to hand out fliers or protest something without consent from the school, campus safety was called to escort them off the grounds. This was a rare occurrence, but it was nice knowing our days wouldn’t be interrupted by potential chaos. I think UW-L has done a good job at creating learning experiences from those situations for students. That’s one thing I wasn’t really able to get at North Central.

The bigger difference I realized this week, is the importance of statistics. We talked in class about standards. Now, this was a conversation about Student Affairs standards, but of course we ventured a bit off topic, and started talking about the standards UW-L has for its students. Someone mentioned the importance UW-L places on retention numbers. This made me think back to Chancellor Gow’s fall address to faculty and staff. He had a whole presentation about UW-L’s numbers and how impressive they were in terms of retention. I was surprised at much the numbers mattered. Maybe it was because I was just a student, but at North Central I felt like there wasn’t as much of an emphasis on the numbers. I worked in admissions and each counselor had goal numbers for applications and acceptances, but I always felt they cared more about the students to find the college that fit them best. And, once a student commits to North Central, they’re a name not a number. I never felt a sense of “how do we keep butts in the seats?” I’m not sure if it was because North Central doesn’t have to report to the state, but from what I’ve heard from those who attended UW-L or other public schools from undergrad it didn’t feel that way for them.


I’m not saying private schools are better than public. They each have their own way of operating that fits some people better than others. Attending a private school was the right choice for me at the time, and now I’m glad I’m gaining experience from a public school. Both have offered and will continue to offer me valuable learning experiences.