Running head: LEARNING OUTCOME NARRATIVE STRENGTHS

Learning Outcome Narrative Strengths

Tori Engstrom

Seattle University

03-04-2019

SDAD 5900: Capstone

Erin Swezey and Dr. Nguyen

LEARNING OUTCOME NARRATIVE STRENGTHS 1

Strengths

I have grown so much and expanded my professional and personal development

extensively because of the Student Development Administration program at Seattle University.

This program gave me an amazing opportunity to identify my purpose in Student Affairs, my

passions in working with students, and my professional career goals that I want to achieve in the

future. I gained confidence in myself as an authentic professional and my practices in serving

students in higher education. My greatest strength that I developed in my graduate program was

identifying a student-centered practice by exhibiting and practicing what it means to be an

authentic professional, having a commitment to underserved students, and engaging as an

educator with my students, peers, and supervisors.

Authentic Professional

Evidence: LO#10

Artifacts: C1, A, and D

Establishing myself as an authentic professional was critical in developing a student-

centered practice. I engaged in LO#10: Establishing and enhancing professional identity with

the dimensions of understanding my identity, story and experiences and how those impact my

goals and mission, establishing a positive and healthy rapport with students through

transparency and honesty, and continuous reflection on what is my authentic professional

identity. Artifact C1: Theory Synthesis Paper on White Racial Consciousness Model was an

intense and personal theoretical reflection from SDAD 5400: Student Development Theory,

Research, and Practice. In this paper, I integrated Rowe, Bennett, and Atkinson’s White Racial

Consciousness Model (1994), Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (1981), and Yosso’s

Community Cultural Wealth (2005) which allowed me to gain a better understanding of how my
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white identity, consciousness, and privilege play a role in my professional practice. I need to

continue to reflect on my privilege and how I serve my students in the future. My internship at

South Seattle College’s Pre-College Trio Programs (Artifact A: Foundational Resume) gave

me the opportunity to share my personal experiences, achievements, and struggles as a low-

income and first generation student with my students. I had open and honest conversations with

them about how unique their pathways to education can be and the realities of college. I

developed trust between my students and myself by showing genuine interest and care for their

educational goals and pathways. In my Artifact D: Professional Letter of Promise, written by

my site-supervisor, Sebastian Myrick, he wrote “Tori’s approach to fostering and building

mentorships with students is robust, effect and will continue to improve with additional years on

the jobs… they were able to interact with and benefit students in an academic setting through

tutoring, coaching, and mentoring on a one-one-one basis.”

Commitment to Underserved Students

Evidence: LO#2, LO#4, and LO#5

Artifacts: F, A, C2, and C3

This program gave me the opportunity to learn about student issues and how these issues

can impact their educational success. LO#2: Understanding students and student issues

became one of my strongest learning outcomes demonstrated through the dimensions of actively

engage and learn about current events and the intersectionality of events that impact students,

value the narratives of students, and value the difference and uniqueness to every educational

pathway for students. Pope and Mueller’s Multicultural Competencies (2004) gave me insight on

how professionals need to improve their awareness, knowledge, and skills in multicultural

competence to better serve students. I learned how institutional types can serve groups of
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students differently and why it is important to evaluate and assess the effectiveness of college

programs for students who need it the most. As part of my professional development plan

(Artifact F) I plan to continue to research emerging student issues in higher education, dedicate

my learning to inform my professional practices, and establish more effective services for these

students. I plan on attending the National Conference of Race and Ethnicity to gain more

awareness, knowledge, and skills on how to make more high education programs accessible for

students of color.

LO#4: Understand and fostering diversity, justice, and a sustainable world formed

by a global perspective and Jesuit Catholic tradition was important for me to exhibit with my

students and in my practices because I wanted to ensure that I was serving these students as best

as I could for their success. I considered these to be the most important dimensions of this

narrative, becoming aware of the barriers and oppressive systems that continue to make higher

education inaccessible, identifying tangible practices and processes to correct or change

oppressive barriers and systems, and fostering a community that strives for equity and inclusion.

At my internship with South Seattle College’s Pre-College Trio Programs, I worked with low-

income, first generation, and students of color in a college access environment (Artifact A). I

engaged in numerous conversations on the importance of equity and inclusion in college and

encouraged my students to think about equity, inclusion, and access using deep self-reflection

and ways they can create communities amongst themselves to promote their sense of belonging.

Harper’s Anti-Deficit Model (2010) emphasizes how critical it is to view students in a positive

method that empowers them to continue their education. Instead of viewing my students as

individuals who lack resources, skills, and knowledge, I know it was crucial to recognize and lift
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their strengths and help them utilize the skills and talents they do have to help them be

successful.

Another key learning outcome that helped me understand my commitment to underserved

students was LO#5: Adapting student services to specific environments and culture with the

dimensions of listen and validate struggles of student groups in higher education, engage in

team collaboration and create changes and improvements from feedback, and assess

functionality of institutional policies and structures through a social justice and equitable

framework. Artifact C2: Promising Practices to Support Sense of Belonging for Running

Start Students and Artifact C3 was a scholarly reflection research project specifically looking

at the struggles, barriers, and solutions regarding sense of belonging for Running Start students.

This project helped me understand how academic advising provides Running Start students to

develop a 1:1 connection with professionals in their college setting, gain a better understanding

about what their college has to offer, and how to be the most successful in their journey toward

their educational goals.

Educator

Evidence: LO#1 and LO#7

Artifacts: A and E

Throughout my time in the SDA program, I developed a passion for educating my

students and my peers. I have been given opportunities to educate my peers on important issues

related to graduate school, student issues, and promising practices. LO#1: Understanding the

foundation and emerging nature of the Student Affairs profession and higher education has

helped me understand and articulate the issues and values of Student Affairs with the dimensions

of having a critical lens about higher education and student affairs practices and policies,
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learning and listening to other professionals regarding issues in Student Affairs and higher

education, and contributing to the emerging knowledge and practices within Student Affairs and

higher education. At the SUSDA Community Retreat, I presented a break out session on

Imposter Syndrome to my graduate peers (Artifact A). In the workshop, we recognized that

Imposter Syndrome is an issue across all professionals, especially graduate students. I facilitated

dialogue about the struggles of Imposter Syndrome and how that has affected us in the SDA

program, and how to combat Imposter Syndrome together. For me, educating others is a means

to create change and to gain multiple perspectives within Student Affairs. One of my strongest

competencies was History, Values, & Philosophy among my NASPA Competencies (Artifact

E). I appreciate and see the value in understanding the foundations of higher education and

Student Affairs. I acknowledge that in order for us to change and create new systems, we have to

be aware of the foundations of service. Kimberle Crenshaw’s Intersectionality (1990) taught me

how critical it is to evaluate and understand how higher education programs were created and

their original intention because they can reveal where students might fall through the cracks

because of the complex system of intersectionality.

As a prospective educator in the SDA program, I learned how important it is to base my

professional practices and values on research. I have been able to grow my skills and knowledge

in LO#7: Utilizing assessment, evaluation, technology, and research to improve practice

with the dimensions of stepping outside my comfort zone to take on new projects that require

learning new methods in assessment, evaluation, technology, and research, understanding the

importance of assessment and using it to show the effectiveness of programs and curriculum, and

utilizing data from assessment practices practitioners will make changes to create more efficient

systems. For my Professional Development Project in SDAD 5900: Capstone Seminar, I focused
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on how Bloom, Hutson, and He’s Appreciative Advising model (2008) can specifically aide first

generation college students to be more successful. I used research and qualitative data to build a

foundation of knowledge and learned about the needs of first generation students regarding

academic advising, moving from transactional advising to appreciative advising, ways

appreciative advising can benefit first generation students, and how colleges can shift their

current systems, models, and policies toward appreciative advising. This project helped me

understand how important it is to shape our student services around our students’ narratives. I

plan to focus on my students’ strengths, narratives, and accomplishments first when I interact

with them one on one because I know it is very important to develop their confidence and trust in

me as a professional.

Conclusion

My experiences through my internship, classes, and projects has allowed me to build who

I am as an authentic professional, developed my commitment to underserved students and

providing services to help them be successful in college, and encouraged me to become an

educator in my role. I have learned that living out a student-centered practice is authentic to my

professional practice and allows me to show up for the students who need it the most.
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References

Bloom, J. L., Hutson, B. L., & He, D. Y. (2008). The appreciative advising revolution. Stipes

Pub.

Harper, S. R. (2010). An anti-deficit achievement framework for research on students of color in

STEM. New Directions for Institutional Research, 148(148), 63-74.

Crenshaw, K. (1990). Mapping the margins: Intersectionality, identity politics, and violence

against women of color. Stan. L. Rev., 43, 1241.

Patton, L. D., Renn, K. A., Guido, F. M., & Quaye, S. J. (2016). Chapter Five: Racial Identity

Development. In Student Development In College: Theory, Research, and Practice (3rd

ed., pp. 297-313). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Patton, L. D., Renn, K. A., Guido, F. M., & Quaye, S. J. (2016). Chapter Fifteen: Moral

Development. In Student Development In College: Theory, Research, and Practice (3rd

ed., pp. 297-313). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race discussion of community cultural

wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-82