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Alex Meyer
2/13/17
COM 490
My Experiences with the Dispositions

Loras College has allowed me to gain valuable learning experience, not only within the

classroom, but in the community around me as well. Dubuque provided me many opportunities

to be successful and it was because of the teaching that was instilled in me from Loras College,

that I was able to thrive in the roles earned from these opportunities. Loras helped guide me to

become a more active learner and responsible contributor to the many different jobs I held. One

of these ways is that I had an opportunity to intern for United States Senate and United States

House races. Fortunately, I had support from my professors and administrative staff on campus

to pursue these opportunities. The idea of being able to actively learn outside of the classroom

and responsibly contribute to society before I graduated was exciting and would allow me to be

able to put the tools I had learned to the test.

Before my time at Loras, I did not have any personal dispositions that I tried to live my

life by, or make a conscious effort in applying dispositions. I always thought that being a good

person and doing the right thing was merely enough. It wasnt until my time at Loras that I was

made aware of the importance of dispositions to strive to achieve, and actively engage them

every day in the classroom, my personal life, and my professional career. These dispositions

helped change my perspective and the way I look at things for the better. By actively considering

these dispositions when I am presented with internal or external conflict, it has allowed me to

become a responsible contributor and active learner in all aspects of my life.

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To be a responsible contributor means to ethically and morally contribute to the

betterment of ones local community or society as a whole. I think doing what one loves while

helping others or bringing something to the table that others may have not considered, is what

it means to responsibly contribute. When someone does these things, it can help open dialogue

and bring new ideas to situations and allow society to move forward. Through all my

experiences, whether they be in the classroom or the professional world, I have tried to

responsibly contribute to new ideas, situations, and especially group projects. Because of my

liberal arts degree, I was able to take courses in fields of study that I wouldnt have ever

considered studying. With this in mind, I can view complicated situations from the perspective of

a Public Relations professional, a Sociology professional, or a Business professional, among

others. Although it may be challenging to determine the correct scope to view the issue from, to

have that background and insight is valuable in itself, especially as I begin to venture into the

real world when there may not be the right answer, such as during my internship during first

semester senior year.

During my internship last semester in Colorado working for a gentleman running for U.S.

Senate, it was important to address many issues and projects from a non-conventional Public

Relations view and responsibly contribute to the campaign and the betterment of the state of

Colorado. The artifact I attached to show this was one of my weekly reports to my advisor

concerning my activities for the previous week. During that time, the campaign was seemingly in

a lull, and in order to help increase awareness and encourage more young people to become

involved in the political process, I had the idea to a launch a statewide youth-based effort

(Appendix A). I thought actively getting more young people involved would help responsibly
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contribute to the progress of society as a whole, and help encourage young people to not be so

apathetic to the issues that directly affect them every day.

Besides the disposition of being a responsible contributor helping impact this idea, the

many group projects from the Public Relations department concerning a campaign, writing press

releases, and communicating with journalists and other professionals helped influence this idea

and the successful rollout of the campaign that ensued. Thus, I was able to offer an opportunity

to students to become a part of something bigger than themselves. Then also represent someone

who was dedicated to responsibly contributing to his community and the entire state of Colorado,

helped me believe that I was embodying the disposition of being a responsible contributor.

Just as it is important to responsibly contribute to society, actively learning in the

classroom and ones surroundings is also key to having a positive impact on the world. Active

learners are curious about the world and seek to make sense of their experiences. To me, this is

more than just sitting in a lecture without participating and then going to the next class and

forgetting everything that was discussed. Rather, I think its about actively engaging the

discussion and taking what one has learned and applying it to the real world. This has been

challenging for me because until I did some self-reflection about it, I hadnt realized just how

useful this was to consider. But once I started at least thinking about it, it allowed me to see the

importance and value in considering these things and applying them. In the future, I think this is

important to carry with me because I hopefully have a career that I am always learning

something from and can actively use not only in my professional career but also in my personal

life. In the meantime, Ive tried to live it by taking learning experiences from all facets of life and

applying them to things that may not connect directly, but can have an indirect effect on one

another. One of the biggest ways Ive applied active learning is through group projects.
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Throughout my time at Loras, it seems like every course has a group project. Until I had

actually ventured out and worked in the real world, I didnt value the importance of this. I think

that my active learning started when I decided to leave my comfort zone and venture down to

Florida and Colorado for the semester. I wanted to take the things Loras had taught me and the

values they have instilled in me, and apply them to the real world. Through working and

experiencing a professional career, I witnessed what set me apart from others I worked with by

seeing the value in working in group projects for my entire Loras career.

Everything in my work was working with others, or holding group meetings, or having to

work with people I may disagree with, but am forced to in order to be successful. The

experiences in school from having great groups, to terrible groups, and considering these groups

when starting work, helped with my active learning experience. I was able to take my

experiences from the group projects in the classroom and consider more deeply why Loras has us

do these group projects for what seems like every class.

The artifact I attached for this briefly touches on this (Appendix B). We had a primary

election that was six weeks away, but quickly approaching. Based on my experiences with

political campaigns previously and my experiences with simulating public relations campaigns

throughout my academic career, I knew six weeks was not much time. However, there was

another staffer who seemed to think that it was and was often not working. He would often be on

Facebook, texting friends, or just hanging out instead of doing his job. It was frustrating because

I view the campaigns as somewhat a competition of whos better, and with him hindering us

every step of the way, it was extremely frustrating. But, because of my experience at Loras with

group projects, I was able to sit down with the other staffers and we were all able to address the

issue and the importance of being sure he starts to do his job. From this experience, it proved to
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me just how important it is to actively learn and constantly be engaged in ones experiences and

to take them and use them in all aspects of life.

The dispositions of Loras College helped mold my academic career and through them,

allowed me to enter the real world for a brief amount of time with confidence. In Florida and

Colorado I ran into many obstacles, but embracing each one with an open mind and using the

tools I learned while at Loras helped me stay focused and be successful. Whether it be through

responsibly contributing or actively learning, my time at Loras taught me the importance of these

values and to use them when necessary in my professional career.