Why Student Affairs?

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Throughout my time in graduate school, I have been asked this question many times and I have many answers. Because I love helping people, because I never truly want to leave the college campus environment, because until my senior year of college I never knew student affairs was a career field (and when I found out, I couldn't believe people had such a fun job!?), because I didn't find student affairs, student affairs found me; and I'm thankful for it every day.

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My college experience looks different from others, and I absolutely love it that way. I think my experience makes me a better student affairs professional because I can relate to so many different student experiences.

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After graduating high school in 2013, I went to Black Hawk Community College for two years before transferring to Augustana College and double majoring in English and creative writing. At Augustana, I went from being a very introverted transfer student to being a overly involved, introverted, transfer student (I think intentionally keeping the work introverted here shows how introverts don't have to change in order for the story to get better). I was involved in Zeta Phi Kappa, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a dance troupe, an on campus magazine, an on campus literary magazine, and an American Sign Language club. I also held an on campus job at the recreational center, and three internships during my two years, one in the human resources office, one in the editorial office, and one in the career center. Student affairs was all around me and I had no idea, but I loved every moment of it.

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When I graduated in 2017, I decided to take a gap year and eventually go back to school. But after I secured a job with Black Hawk's success center as an administrative assistant, I knew a degree in student affairs had to be what I went to school for. I loved my job at Black Hawk so much, I would wake up every day excited to be around my coworkers and my students.

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In 2018, I began my graduate school journey at the University of Missouri pursuing a degree in Educational Leadership Policy Analysis and a graduate assistantship in the involvement office overseeing Mizzou's Involvement Ambassadors. My first year of graduate school had its ups and downs as graduate school does, but overall I felt that Mizzou was too far from my family, my partner, and everything that made me feel whole. I learned a lot from my time at the University of Missouri but I knew that my new destination had so much more in store for me.

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In 2019 I transferred to Illinois State University to pursue a Master's in Science, a degree in College Student Personnel Administration, and a graduate assistantship in housing. I'm thankful that I chose ISU, even if it meant staying in graduate school longer than planned because I finally feel that I am getting a valuable graduate experience that I am proud of.

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I will graduate in 2021 after having been a transfer student three separate times in my college career, having been in graduate school for three years, and having held three separate graduate assistantships. I know that my path was not traditional in the least, but my path is mine. It's unique, it's important, and it's still right. I cannot wait to share my path with my future students and inspire them to create their own.

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