my ideal career future, that is.
(I wrote the following yesterday morning, actually. I just couldn't post because we didn't have Internet and I didn't get to the public library!)
I think I'm finally starting to figure things out when it comes to my future career. After discovering the student affairs field and consequently choosing it without hesitation for my future, I've come to realize it is a much larger field than I initially thought. Not only are there many specific areas of student affairs (student activities, student career centers, civic engagement, et cetera) but of course there are different levels and positions within those areas that I did not consider before. For instance, managing the student affairs office, assessing the development of a student affairs department, managing a student union, it's facilities, or directing the entire student life department.
I chose the field for several reasons. 1) I know that advising students is something I can be good at with practice and something I want to excel in. I moved from Milwaukee, WI, my hometown, to St. Cloud, MN for my undergraduate studies completely alone. I turned to whatever department I could find for advice, activities, and advising because I just didn't know what to do with myself. It quickly became an identity crisis; a common phenomena of new students like I was. Searching for advice became a game; each department I visited gave me pamphlets, resources, and/or calendars of events and I gobbled it up. Resources! Free! What can I do with all this! Cool! I wanted to utilize all of them to better myself, make friends, and truly take advantage of my college experience; and that's what I ended up doing, though after some peer encouragement. 2) The university/college setting is where I feel that I fit in when it comes to a work place. Some would argue that I just don't want to leave my college life behind or I'm too afraid of change to start working in a company or firm. Let me lay it out for you: I thrive in changing environments, working with people, and being in more open minded communities. I've worked as a campus event planner for the last two years of my college career, so I already know what it is like to work in such an environment, and I already know that it is the environment for me. 3) Education is constantly growing/improving and education is everywhere. Student affairs may not academically instruct students, but it is still an incredibly valuable part of post secondary education, as I am beginning to learn in my studies at SU. When I was young the job I wanted "when I grew up" was to be a teacher. I couldn't explain it then, but now I know it was a precursor to my desire to work in an educational setting. When I say education is everywhere, I mean education can take me anywhere! Even if I don't work in a university, the things I learn from a student affairs program is going to be incredibly applicable in different educational institutions and I'm even looking forward to grasping that opportunity.
Of course, I could go on, but those are the main reasons I chose the field. The past few months it has been a struggle whether or not to decide what specific area I wanted to specialize in, if any. I loved the idea of working in a student career services center; helping students establish career paths, helping them find jobs in the area, et cetera. However, I couldn't find a passion for it. I considered student activities, where I have years of positive experience as an undergraduate, but my heart wasn't in that path 100%. The past year or so I've been looking at what I can do abroad, and I've dappled in researching working in an education abroad office, but I hadn't really been serious about it until recently. Here in Seattle I have been fortunate to come across several job postings that have helped me clarify the skills I want to attain and the responsibilities I want to practice in my daily work. It's a match made in heaven: I can advise students, I can work with people abroad, I can travel abroad, I can run orientation programs, I can use my Spanish skills, the list goes on! I have more research to do, but I'm confident that this is the area I want to work in.
I do have one reservation about my career aspirations. Many can argue that student affairs in general doesn't exactly save lives, its not changing the future of a third world country, nor does it have much to do with national social justice issues. A long time ago I decided I wanted to work in whatever field would make an important difference in the world. You can argue that student affairs has the capability to make worldly and significant changes, but I can't get over the fact that in this day and age, the rich and privileged are still the majority of college students. The last thing I want to be is some superficial director of a study abroad office designing incredibly expensive programs for upper class students who might not take the program very seriously anyway.
Well, what exactly do I want to do with an education abroad position, then?
There are a few things I am sure of:
I want to make programs affordable for everyone. I want to include civic engagement in all abroad experiences. I want to be a resource and friend for all the students who walk into my office and tell me how badly they want to experience the world around them. I want to design orientation programs and return programs for study abroad students in order for them to get the most out of their experience. I want to expose students who have never left the country to environments they'd never imagined before. I want to make sure they never forget their experience, and never forget that there is more to the world than their city or state. I want to involve them in something bigger than themselves.
And so my journey continues. I'm going to start searching for professional development opportunities that would give me an advantage in the education abroad field, as well as search for positions in Seattle that will help me develop relevant skills. I'm looking forward to everything I'm going to learn in the next few years in the Student Development Administration program at Seattle University so that I can apply it to my career plan.
Its an incredible relief and excitement to finally know what I want to do with my future.
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