“The advising and helping competency area addresses the knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to providing counseling and advising support, direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance to individuals and groups." (ACPA & NASPA, p. 6).
Ropp Hall Association members after the Spring Fling 2013
Of all the competencies, advising and helping is the one that I believe I excel most at. I started working on this competency (unknowingly) my junior and senior year of undergrad when I was an RA in Kohl Hall at BGSU. Helping others is something that brings a lot of joy to my life, and I would help my residents with issues in their personal life, help them select classes for the next semester, and deal with issues that would occur on the floor. All of this was done just because I wanted to provide direction and feedback to others and help them navigate the world of college, which I found success in and thought was so wonderful.
As I began my graduate program at BGSU in the CSP program and my internship at Bluffton University, I saw that my advising and helping competency was on a whole new level. As an undergraduate student, I could help to mentor younger students and “advise” them. But as a graduate student and staff member, I am able to use these skills in formal situations, such as meeting weekly with students on academic probation in the Learning Resource Center. In these sessions, I check up on how students are doing in each of their classes, how many classes they miss each week, how they feel about the semester, and what they can do to improve academically and ensure that they will in fact get off of academic probation for the next semester. I find these meetings to be rewarding when the students come in with good news of an A or B on a paper or test, and proudly say that they haven’t missed any classes for the week. Working in academic affairs is a great experience and it is remarkable to see the bridge between academic and residence life, since most students live on campus all four years. For my first artifact, I attached the blank sheet that I use every week to take notes on the students I meet with. Once I have met with the student, my supervisor takes a look at my notes and then that gets filed away in the student’s folder in the Learning Resource Center. I take pride in these notes, as professors, administrators, the student, and even parents may see these notes in the future and refer to them when making decisions about the student and how they are succeeding academically.
As the hall director of Ropp Hall, I have the opportunity to supervise and advise eight resident advisors. The role is wonderful, because not only do I have to keep them accountable for their role, but I get to advise and counsel them as well. My RAs are great leaders, and I take pride in developing them further, while also being a resource and advocate for them. I meet 1:1 with each RA a couple times a month, and in this time I get to know each staff member better professionally as well as on a personal level. My second artifact is a weekly report that I give my RAs. My RAs are expected to fill this out so that I have a better idea of how to help them, what they have been doing on the floor, and what is going on in their lives. I love reading these and learning about what makes them happy and who on staff has been a positive influence that week for them. I have also attached a copy of the evaluation that I created for my RAs to fill out for each other, as well as the evaluation that I fill out for each RA. I think feedback and evaluation are extremely important to our work in student affairs, as we can always improve and do things better! I have wonderful RAs who do great work, but I constantly want to challenge them, while also supporting them in the ways that I can. I have also attached a letter that one of my RAs wrote about me.
As another part of my hall director duties, I advise Ropp Hall Association. This group of around 8 residents meets weekly to discuss events and programs we can do for the building. We have done fundraisers, put on formals for the campus, and have some fun end of the year events. I enjoy working with this group of new leaders, as I see the potential they all have and help them grow more in their leadership abilities.
As I began my graduate program at BGSU in the CSP program and my internship at Bluffton University, I saw that my advising and helping competency was on a whole new level. As an undergraduate student, I could help to mentor younger students and “advise” them. But as a graduate student and staff member, I am able to use these skills in formal situations, such as meeting weekly with students on academic probation in the Learning Resource Center. In these sessions, I check up on how students are doing in each of their classes, how many classes they miss each week, how they feel about the semester, and what they can do to improve academically and ensure that they will in fact get off of academic probation for the next semester. I find these meetings to be rewarding when the students come in with good news of an A or B on a paper or test, and proudly say that they haven’t missed any classes for the week. Working in academic affairs is a great experience and it is remarkable to see the bridge between academic and residence life, since most students live on campus all four years. For my first artifact, I attached the blank sheet that I use every week to take notes on the students I meet with. Once I have met with the student, my supervisor takes a look at my notes and then that gets filed away in the student’s folder in the Learning Resource Center. I take pride in these notes, as professors, administrators, the student, and even parents may see these notes in the future and refer to them when making decisions about the student and how they are succeeding academically.
As the hall director of Ropp Hall, I have the opportunity to supervise and advise eight resident advisors. The role is wonderful, because not only do I have to keep them accountable for their role, but I get to advise and counsel them as well. My RAs are great leaders, and I take pride in developing them further, while also being a resource and advocate for them. I meet 1:1 with each RA a couple times a month, and in this time I get to know each staff member better professionally as well as on a personal level. My second artifact is a weekly report that I give my RAs. My RAs are expected to fill this out so that I have a better idea of how to help them, what they have been doing on the floor, and what is going on in their lives. I love reading these and learning about what makes them happy and who on staff has been a positive influence that week for them. I have also attached a copy of the evaluation that I created for my RAs to fill out for each other, as well as the evaluation that I fill out for each RA. I think feedback and evaluation are extremely important to our work in student affairs, as we can always improve and do things better! I have wonderful RAs who do great work, but I constantly want to challenge them, while also supporting them in the ways that I can. I have also attached a letter that one of my RAs wrote about me.
As another part of my hall director duties, I advise Ropp Hall Association. This group of around 8 residents meets weekly to discuss events and programs we can do for the building. We have done fundraisers, put on formals for the campus, and have some fun end of the year events. I enjoy working with this group of new leaders, as I see the potential they all have and help them grow more in their leadership abilities.
student_meeting_sheet.docx | |
File Size: | 15 kb |
File Type: | docx |
ropp_ra_weekly_report_spring_2013.pdf | |
File Size: | 242 kb |
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ropp_hall_staff_evaluation.pdf | |
File Size: | 68 kb |
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j_eval_blacked_out.pdf | |
File Size: | 172 kb |
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jessica_letter.docx | |
File Size: | 13 kb |
File Type: | docx |