sign of the times

loved seeing this on my facebook newsfeed! NASPA is so hip and with it! lol

"I'm a Res Life person"

One of the best parts about doing all this traveling for grad school interviews is meeting all the amazing people out there so passionate about entering this field. It's funny because someone always ends up asking, "So what are your interests in student affairs? What do you do?" 

My immediate response is always "Umm well... I'm a Res Life person." haha But ya, a lot of my undergrad experience is related to Res Life.

I still remember that day during freshman year when I was walking to the bathroom down the hall and saw a poster with Adam Sandler, Katie Couric, Wesley Snipes, and Sheryl Crow and it said something like "Be a Leader" and I just felt so innately drawn to the idea of being an RA. It wasn't about money, it wasn't about a guaranteed place to live... it just honestly sounded like exactly what I wanted out of my college experience at that time. Then from there, it was becoming a Desk Manager to see the administrative side of things and incorporate my Business major to my University Housing experience. Then it was becoming more serious about student affairs and pursuing the ACUHO-I internship. ResLifeResLifeResLIfe. But what is it about Res Life that makes me so passionate about it? 

Here's another excerpt from an application that is kind of my general thoughts on Res Life. Another kind of like "let me just put this here so I can look back at it one day and say awww I was such a cute and naive little undergrad who had no idea how all of that would lead to all the amazing things that have happened since then" haha:

I envision myself professionally entering the field through a Residence Life position. I recognize that my Resident Advisor experience is what ignited my passion for the Student Affairs field. I now see my residents in leadership roles on campus and pursuing their career goals. In reflection, I recall conversations I had with them about self-awareness and educational pursuits. I can’t help but feel my RA role had some type of influence and purpose. Student development is what keeps me motivated and inspired to pursue this as my career path. In a professional Residence Life position, my goal is to develop true student leaders in my RA staff so that they may in turn positively affect the lives of their residents and discover self-awareness in a way similar to my experience.

In Residence Life, I also have a strong interest in Living Learning Communities. As a first year student living in an LLC for my major, I truly felt that community supported my academic success. This past summer, I pursued an ACUHO-I Internship for Canadian Campus Communities in Calgary, Canada. In this role, I had an opportunity to develop a 3-phase action plan to implement an Arts Living Learning Community. It first focused on the RA role in programming, then expanding to involvement with the Arts School programming and resources, and eventual plans for mentorship from Arts leaders in the community. This experience furthered my appreciation for LLCs and as a professional, I hope to play a role in developing LLC programs to support academic and professional growth within the Residence Hall in a way that enhances the student experience. 

a working thought

I recently sent in my application for the NUFP Summer Leadership Institute. One of the questions asked about my long-term career goals in student affairs or higher education. Thinking back to when I first started this blog, I don't think I had any idea what my long-term career goals were so this really gave me a chance to think about where I could possibly see myself.

Below is an excerpt from my response to the question. I think that this is definitely a working thought and I have a lot more to learn before I can really solidify what it would mean to be a leader for AAPIS in higher education, but I think it would be interesting to just put this excerpt here and see where my understandings of this pathway may grow in the future.

My long-term career goal is to be a leader for Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in higher education. Exploring my potential role in this field has truly allowed me to shape my understandings of self-identity and purpose. As a student who identifies as Filipino-American at a predominately white institution, I have had many experiences that have inspired me to be a voice for my community.

My NUFP mentor recently gave me a book featured at the NASPA Conference titled Asian Americans and Pacific Islander in Higher Education: Research and Perspectives on Identity, Leadership, and Success. Among the many themes of the book, I felt the authors spoke of the need for a response to the underrepresentation of this growing population. As mentioned by the book editors, very little has been published on AAPIs in higher education student affairs. I know that I have a lot to learn in this area but I am inspired to be a leader in the development of information because I truly feel there is a story to tell.

Specifically, I have a growing passion for research interests centered on the college experiences of Filipino-American students. I was surprised to learn that according to the most recent U.S. Census, Filipinos were reported as the second largest Asian group. How can a population so significant in number be a relatively invisible topic in academics? I envision myself playing a role in advocating to increase Filipino studies in higher education programs and developing student leaders in these communities to also work towards change.

In addition, it is my understanding that there are very few Asian American women in senior-level leadership positions in higher education. I am still discovering the realities of career pathways in this field but I would like to strive towards an eventual senior-level position in the student affairs community and on a personal level, simply be that example to inspire AAPI students to achieve their own successes.

I truly believe...

I truly believe Higher Education and Student Affairs is instrumental in helping students build self-awareness, discover their passions, and align it with their professional goals. I am passionate about pursuing a career in Student Affairs because I want to play a role in helping others discover 1) who they are, 2) what they strive to be, and 3) how they can reach their highest potential.

2011-2012

the past year of my life has been about these places. these are the experiences that are shaping my student affairs future!

havent posted in a while

...because i've been traveling for different grad school interviews and whatnot. honestly, i've just been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting. and i think i felt like because i had so much to think about, i didn't want to solidify anything in writing and in public because i was still thinking things through. but i think i'm almost ready to start writing down all the thoughts running through my head... almost :) these are definitely exciting times with big decisions to make!


one thing's for sure: i am definitely going to go to grad school out of state this fall! ahhh!! is this real life???

spring break: day 1

driving along the coast with mom & dad, reading this book and thinking about how i want to change the world.

just clicked print.

officially printing out my cover letters and resumes for my first on-campus grad school interviews!! for months now, this has all been something i've just been talking about. but now... it's really happening! it's unreal. ahhhh!!!

The NUFP Fellows Community!

Around here, it seems like I am literally 1 of 4 people interested in pursuing Student Affairs in graduate study and as a career. I honestly feel like I spend most of my time trying to explain to people what I am passionate about doing with my life (not to mention, convincing them that this is can actually be a career... gotta love Cal Poly, land of the Engineers who doubt that being a Business Major can actually lead to a job one day haha <3). 

One of the things I am so thankful for with this NUFP opportunity, is how much it as connected me to a great community of other students just like me, going through the exact same process. For once, I don't need to explain myself or my career interests because they already have the same passions! And you know me, I love my social media. Facebook has been an incredible resource for really connecting with other NUFP fellows.

With the understanding that we're all in the same boat right now, everyone seems really genuinely supportive of each other. And reading through all the casual group discussions about different issues in higher education keeps me motivated because it is exciting to see that other people out there are already so intellectual about this field. With so many people with different backgrounds and experiences all talking in one place, it inspires me to challenge the limits of my knowledge about current issues in higher education and to just be open minded to always learning more and expanding my view.

It took a lot but one day, I mustered up the courage to share the link to my blog on the NUFP group page. I think I was pretty nervous about it because part of me was intimidated by how smart all the other fellows seemed. Would they think my thoughts on Student Affairs aren't legit? Am I fool for thinking I could be successful in this field? Would they just brush it off and not care? Would anyone even click on it??

Pretty soon after, Ivana messaged me saying:

I hope you don't mind, but I saw on your blog that you had an ACUHO-I internship, and noticed that it was in Canada because of your pictures. I would love to hear more about that experience. I had a NUFP internship at the University of Kansas last summer and it was such an awesome experience. But I bet seeing student affairs in another country was really cool.

And with that, it was like the gates of heaven opened up and I realized just how exciting it was to be a part of the supportive NUFP community. Here was a real person genuinely interested in my experiences that also had her own story to tell that I could learn from. We messaged back and forth and I was seriously in awe of how eloquent she was about Student Affairs. I was like... oh man! These are the type of people applying to grad school too? I need to step up my game! haha

The other day, I saw a post on one of our NUFP group pages from Ryan asking about ACUHO-I Internships. asdjfl;asdjfkl! I was incredibly excited to share my experiences to help someone out with the process that I was going through last year. The crazy thing was that literally as I was typing out my response to Ryan's message, Ivana facebook chatted me asking about grad school interviews at IU! (It was such a cool moment that ya, I printscreened it... hahaha)

So thank you NUFP Fellows 2011-2012 for being a great community. And I look forward to meeting you all in person out in the field one day... maybe at grad school interviews next month??? Ahhh!!!

just checked the weather...

i'm pretty sure that all 3 grad schools i applied to will not have this kind of weather in the middle of winter. 

but as amazing as this paradise is, i really am excited to experience something different. i don't want to just be a "california girl" my whole life and have that be all i know.

there's so much more to the world & i'm excited to discover that with these next steps in my life. enjoying the last few months here & excited to see what the future holds!