Running Head: Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

Rea Shehan Kyani
Introduction to College Student Development
Dr. Vanessa Johnson
Northeastern University

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Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

In rising into the world of Student Affairs as a new professional, one must become aware
of the many possibilities for success and failure inherent to the field. In reading Beginning
Your Journey: A Guide for New Professionals in Student Affairs, Ive come to understand that
there will be certain facets of the role which I will naturally understand, and other facets which
will pose challenges. The chapters I specifically focused on are Voices of Experience,
Unwritten Rules, Toward an Ethic for the Profession, Making Professional Connections,
and Reconciling Life and Work. Within these chapters are the themes of Professional
Development, Issues of Dissonance Confronting New Professionals, Crucial Experiences for a
New Professionals Ethic, Getting Involved in Professional Associations, and Balance and
Efficiency which I will evaluate in the body of this paper.
The first impacting statement in Beginning Your Journey is from chapter one, Voices
of Experience, which discusses the impact of a new professionals background, experience, and
how these and other important characteristics create a uniform congruence in his or her student
affairs schema.
One of the greatest challenges for new professionals is finding a balance in their work
and being able to separate themselves from their typical undergraduate or graduate
student role. If they are new to a community or without a strong personal support base
on campus, it is difficult to separate work from social life. Since most of us got into the
field because we love to work with students, it is often difficult if not impossible to say
no to student requests for late night, weekend, or even overnight commitments. Staffs
who develop good rapport with students will undoubtedly be asked to give more and
more of their time (there will always be one more thing that needs to be done yesterday)!

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

New professionals will benefit by establishing a work routine that shows that they value
their health, their personal and family commitments, and their own sanity, as well as their
professional commitment. I have literally had to tell some young staff to take time off so
they can get much-needed rest and perspective away from a work problem. If your only
friends are those with whom you work, you will never really get away from the work
environment. Finding ways to volunteer in your community and establish non-work
relationships are healthy alternatives, which can also foster a healthy balance in your life.
(Amey & Reesor, 2002, p. 9)
This statement sheds light on the growing commitments, extended responsibilities, and the
constant expectation of availability. I see these factors being a major challenge in my life as a
student affairs professional. My life as a graduate student is my priority, but I love working in
the field I love it enough to have issues with balancing my professional self with my academic
self. Within these two worlds, schedules could begin to clash, and I have the potential to be
spread incredibly thin between them, leaving less personal time than I already have. Throughout
the next two years, I know, beyond a doubt, that I will need to remain vigilant about my
priorities. By order of importance, my role as a graduate student far outweighs my role as a
graduate assistant I wouldnt currently be the latter if not for the consequence of the former.
However, I dont see this balance becoming a challenge, because its a formula Ive been
computing for a few years now, and I feel quite ready to handle it.
The second statement I came across in Beginning Your Journey is from Unwritten
Rules in regards to Issues of Dissonance Confronting New Professionals. This statement
concerns the lack of open communication which can be found in the student affairs workplace.
A lack of openness can lead to passive-aggressive tension and a lack of synergy.

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

Everything was going fine or so I thought. The students liked me, we were doing some
really exciting things, and had come together as a team in a really short time. So you see
why I was so shocked to get my six-month evaluation and find out the supervisor didnt
want to keep me, that she felt I wasnt working out. I was very honest about myself
when I interviewed; they said I was just the kind of person they needed! I never saw it
coming (Amey & Reesor, 2002, p. 16)
This statement highlights my worst fear: passive-aggressive tension in the workplace. My first
role in student affairs was in the capacity of a Resident Assistant. I was on a staff of 17 other
RAs, an Assistant Resident Director, and a Resident Director. Unfortunately, our RD was fired
from her previous role and, as a result, had developed a highly toxic attitude. Under her
influence, RAs and the ARD became more comfortable in gossiping, trash-talking, and overall
negativity. More specifically, my RD would gossip about RAs to other RAs, creating a vicious
cycle of passive-aggressive outrage, fueled by a lack of rational-minded, open communication.
Consequently, the possibility of encountering a negative work environment is my largest fear
when entering post-graduate school workforce.
The third statement of impact was found in Toward an Ethic for the Profession
concerning Crucial Experiences for a New Professionals Ethic.
Striving to navigate the balance between hanging out with students and maintaining
professional distance can be tricky. I was traveling back to campus after a winter
camping experience with two vans full of male students. The eight hour trip was fairly
boring so the men thought mooning one another (from van to van) would help quicken
the time. Inevitably, the group I my van began chanting my name to participate in the
ritual. With mixed feelings, I declined. About six months later, one of the seniors on

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

the trop related how impressed he had been that I had developed a level of relationship
with all the men on the trip that would make them feel more comfortable asking me to
participate in the mooning incident, but yet I had the judgment to know that it would have
been inappropriate and would have made everyone uncomfortable had I actually
participated. The truth is that I got lucky since I hadnt reasoned the situation out nearly
as well as this senior had interpreted it! (Amey & Reesor, 2002, p. 40)
This statement draws attention to the seemingly perpetual issue of drawing the lines of friendship
between professionals and students. Eternally, there exists the multifaceted nature of the
professional friend or professional, friend or counselor, lending of friendship or instiller of
authority. In my roles as a new professional staff member and graduate student, I suspect this
dichotomy will be an occasional challenge. When I am empathetic to someones challenges and
success, I begin to see myself in his or her shoes. This creates a bond which may very easily turn
into a friendship. It has happened before, and it only makes me believe that it can happen again.
My two best friends and I were all resident assistants together, and after three long, happy years,
we remain best friends still. Im still getting contacted by the residents I had from my first
semester as an RA three years ago. They share how their lives have changed, their new
adventures and challenges, their hope revised and brighter than when we last spoke. In my
mind, these moments are incredibly validating, and they tell me that Im exactly where Im
meant to be. While this facet of student affairs could become problematic, in that lines may be
crossed for the wrong reasons, I believe students understand this duality more than we expect
them to. Immediately, students understand that we (graduate assistants) are not the typical grad
school students, and as such, we have a different set of parameters and objectives. They

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

understand that our goals as student professionals are not to necessarily create friendships, but to
facilitate learning, act as a resource, and help promote their academic and mental health.
The fourth impactful statement in Beginning Your Journey was found in Making
Professional Connections and concerns Getting Involved in Professional Associations.
I had just arrived at the hotel, tired because the plane was late and it took longer than I
had thought to arrange for transportation. I immediately felt like a new freshman on
campus trying to find the registration area. Once I asked for directions several times, I
found the area only to notice several small groups of people talking. I wondered if
anyone would ever talk to me. Then someone shouted my name and it was a good friend
from grad school. I realized that I, too, know people here and it would be okay. (Amey &
Reesor, 2002, p. 90)
This statement points out that in order to be a complete student affairs professional, one must be
able to commit to external knowledge communities, like NASPA, ACUHO-i, etc. As a young
professional, I think its absolutely necessary to connect, network, and fully understand that our
student affairs field is not limited to the school in which we work, our regions, or even our
nation. Our aim should be connect, find our common goals, and endeavor to effect a positive
change in our education, our society, and overall, our humanity. My goals as a student affairs
professional align with this perspective, and as such, I need to be able to feel comfortable in
putting myself out there, in order to experience the new, and learn what I can. Im naturally an
introverted person, so the concept of networking tends to be a daunting one. Putting myself out
there is quite a difficult task I need to harness the smaller amount of extroverted energy I have
in order to meet new people. I must learn to ignore the fear of being outside of my comfort zone,

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

which will be one of my goals for the years to come, especially in a field like this, where human
connection is central to being a successful student affairs professional.
The fifth statement in Beginning Your Journey which created impact can be found in
Reconciling Life and Work and concerns Balance and Efficiency.
I have noticed that we always teach students to live balanced lives, yet we set the worst
examples. I can remember several days when I would be in the office for 12 hours, then
attend a program, lead a meeting, and spend some time with students in the evening. If I
was lucky, I would be in bed by 1:00 in the morning and get six hours of sleep before it
was time to get up and do it all over again. (Amey & Reesor, 2002, p. 102)
This statement discusses the need for student affairs professionals to maintain a healthy work-life
balance for the sake of their mental and physical well-being. This issue is my perfect example of
a combined strength and challenge. This statement brings up the fact that we set poor examples
of taking personal time for ourselves (away from the student affairs position). Therefore, I feel
comfortable and secure with the fact that I know when I need to step away from connecting with
students, i.e. not attending all evening socials, programs, and events; and declining invitations to
movies and shows unless theres chief cause to do so. Furthermore, I believe its possible to
limit oneself to the amount of hours spent in the workplace. While I dont believe that student
affairs is a field in which you can come to work at nine in the morning and leave perfectly at five
in the evening, I believe that some days can, in fact, be that simple. Some days can be meek
enough that a professional wont be required to extend themselves for an entire day with
meetings, programs, office hours, and so on. Other work days, however, can reach up to twenty
consecutive hours of presence its all chance, and theres no exact science behind it. If you

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

want to be a wholly committed student affairs professional, you need to be able to live in the
grey the unplanned and unknown.
Ultimately, there will be challenges in every field of the workforce its an inherent
quality of the workplace when the human element is involved. With student affairs in particular
comes a particular set of challenges and expectations. In this paper, Ive highlighted the
particular challenges I expect to face, as well as the situations I feel best ready to handle,
highlighted with specific statements found in Beginning Your Journey: A Guide for New
Professionals in Student Affairs.

Beginning Your Journey Reaction Paper

References

Amey, M. J., & Reesor, L. M. (2002). Beginning Your Journey: A Guide for New Professionals
in Student Affairs. Washington, DC: Library of Congress, Cataloging-in-Publication
Data.