While I have learned a lot about myself and the field of higher education in the program, I know that I must still challenge myself to grow personally and professionally.  As I embark on a new experience in the field of higher education, I am committed to continue my social justice education and utilizing curriculum development in my work as a practitioner.

           As one of the cornerstones of our program, I have been exposed to various issues relating to social justice both inside and outside of higher education.  In my conversations with my students, peers, and supervisors, I have worked to have conversations about current events and my own identity development in order to find ways to continue my classroom learning in the professional environment.  Since I will not always be in a structured environment to talk about issues of social justice, I want to push myself to develop my own understanding of my privileged identities in order to continue having difficult conversations with students, peers, and colleagues.  Specifically for residential environments, these conversations will be important for me to help provide the framework for inclusive communities.  After attending TPE and NASPA this year, this was an area of focus as our students are bringing more diverse experiences into college and are looking to support from administrators.  For me, commitment to having conversations about social justice must be an ‘all or nothing’ commitment.  For too long, I have relied on other offices and trainings to provide that support for my students, which shows my own unwillingness to engage in difficult conversations with students.   In order to create an inclusive environment for students, I want to find more ways to infuse social justice education and identity development into the residential curriculum and student experience in residence halls.  Additionally, I need to seek out ways to build my own skills and efficacy for having dialogues with students and peers and further my own understanding of my identities. 

            In addition to furthering my social justice education, I also hope to utilize my classroom experiences to shape the way functional areas engage with students across the university.  Specifically this semester in my Curriculum course, I have reflected on the many ways that I can utilize the principles of curriculum design to help shape the college environment.  For residence life specifically, I hope to use this learning to think about ways to ensure that we are creating learning outcomes and environments that support student success.  After my two years in residential education, I have seen that we often assume that our students are set up for success because they live on campus.  Utilizing my knowledge from coursework in the program, I plan on finding ways to evaluate the student experience and find ways to engage students through programming and community engagement for residential students and staff members.

            As a student affairs professional, it will be important for me to continue my development in both of these areas in order to create positive learning environments for students.  As the field is rapidly changing and responding to calls for reform, it will be important for me to ensure that student success is at the heart of my work.  This means thinking about how I can get involved regionally and nationally to find ways to innovate and collaborate with other professionals to provide support for students.  Over the next few years in my first professional role, I hope to continue my development in the areas explained above and develop relationships with mentors and supervisors in order to figure out my next steps in the profession.  While my experience has been limited to residential education, I would like to build my skills and efficacy in student programming and conduct, as they are emerging areas of interest for me in the field.  I also am looking forward to a future opportunity to obtain an MBA and/or Ph.D/Ed.D in order to continue my classroom learning and find ways to innovate and help change the landscape of higher education in the United States.