What do you do?

Well, today, I wore jeans to work and got Starbucks. You can’t ask for a better start to Friday!

But, I don’t get to do that every day.

So what do I do every day when I come to work?

A few folks have asked “What do you do at your job?” You all get to “hear” about it a fair amount via this blog. And, just to clarify, because I know that I can get rather sassy when describing my interactions with students, I truly adore my job! It is never boring, keeps me on my toes and allows me to spend good chunks of time on a college campus- which I love!

So, my job.

I work in college student affairs.

What the heck does that mean?

Well, if you went to college and lived on campus, you likely had an RA, or Resident Assistant, that was assigned to your floor to lead activities, serve as a resource, etc. Well, that is how I got sucked into the Student Affairs profession. I was an RA as an undergraduate and loved it!

You probably also had an activities office, intramurals, etc.

On most campuses, RAs and the housing department fall within the division of student affairs. Other areas of student affairs can include (depending on the campus structure) student activities, leadership, multicultural programs, intramurals, career development, orientation programs, judicial offices, counseling and health services, advising centers, security, etc.

So, basically it is a focus on providing programs and services to students outside the classroom.

It’s easy to assume that it all about throwing pizza parties, playing silly games and basically the attitude of “just keep them busy so they don’t get in trouble”.

Rest assured it is not all about the fun stuff.

Don’t get me wrong, we do a fair amount of that, but did you know a pizza party can be intentional?

Yep. Especially with first year students at the beginning of the year, sometimes it is all about getting them out of their rooms and socializing with people. Having a social support system is crucial to a student’s success in college. Creating those systems in the classroom is not always easy therefore simple social activities are planned to help this process along.

Did you know that student affairs has learning outcomes?

Yep. Most, not all, student affairs divisions have defined student learning outcomes. Because students spend the majority of their time on campus outside of the classroom it’s important that we attempt to get them to use that time wisely. So, if we can’t provide some sort of learning outside the classroom, we are wasting great opportunities.

Also, a part of coming to college is learning how to function as an adult, take responsibility for your own time, actions, etc. We try to provide them opportunities to learn those things in a safe environment where, quite frankly, we expect them to screw up so we are prepared to help them.

So, to answer the question, “What do you do?”.

Well, most days I spend some time “putting out fires”, dealing with student concerns, concerns about students, parent phone calls, trying to plan all those programs, advocating for students across campus departments, advocating for our department across campus, meeting with student leaders, dealing with student issues, etc. etc.

And, the day never goes as planned.

Like I don’t plan to get woken up at 1 a.m. because of student issue.

I don’t plan on getting nothing on my to-do list done because every student had an issue that day.

I don’t plan on small care packages for our undergraduate staff being the huge hit that they are if only because the students felt recognized for their hard work.

I don’t plan on a student finally “getting it” and taking responsibility for their own actions, good and bad.

So, the only thing I can plan on is that the day will not go as planned.

Hopefully, now you know “what I do”.

I don’t always know….

But now you do.