I have accumulated many skills through my professional and academic experiences within the program. Professionally, I have had the opportunity to mediate conflicts between students, supervise student staff, and advise student programming boards. Additionally, I have collaborated with peers and professionals to create training opportunities for student staff and cultural competency for professional development. Regularly I have given input and constructive feedback as well as incorporated new feedback into my work. I have navigated ambiguity and embraced it by taking on more responsibility. Academically, I have studied the history of higher education and formed a personal understanding of social justice and multiculturalism. I have discovered a passion for research and an understanding of how students develop socially, cognitively, morally, and along racial and sexual identities. I was challenged to critically look at systems that perpetuate injustice and to use this knowledge to deconstruct and reconstruct theories of leadership. Finally, I have learned how to create significant learning experiences for students and how to affect meaningful change within higher education. All of these skills, competencies, and knowledge I am bringing into my practice in the field of higher education. I am proud of these accomplishments, however, what I am most proud of is my ability to form the impactful relationships within the field.

Beyond these skills and competencies I have developed profound relationships with my supervisors, peers, and students. It is within these relationships that I have found meaning in my work - in these relationships I have been challenged to truly understand my story and to share my story with others. Reciprocally, I have held my peers and students accountable to their commitment to social justice and struggled alongside them throughout our developmental journeys. In sum, while I am bringing all of these competencies and skills to the field, most importantly I am bringing a desire to connect and a desire to use those connections to ask difficult questions and to continually develop my understanding of myself and others.