Smith, Ryan

AGSD 485
Atchley
12.05.2014
ALE Reflection
Within the Discipline
With my discipline being Agricultural Services and Development, I have built skills and acquired
knowledge which facilitates my experience within my ALE. While being with Academic Affairs, my two
courses of Ag Leadership have greatly impacted my ability to capitalize on my independent growth from
student status to employee mentality. In both classes, we were challenged to describe, determine and
discuss what the aspects of a leader are, challenge ourselves individually to work as a team and
understand beneficial contribution from others. I have been able to take those leadership skills and
apply that to my Academic Affairs team. By being a Senior Intern, I have advised the younger interns on
issues and situations that will help them later on such as learning how to prioritize daily activities.
Another class would be that of Ag Sales and Services. Even though my position was not directly
related to sales, the key components of being able to understand different individuals, development of
professionalism and hone in on the value of making connections with diverse groups of people. My
experience holds significant meaning in how I was able to handle myself with professors outside my own
discipline, as well in administration. With agriculture as my discipline, comes with the attitude of hard
work, diligence, determination and reliability. Without these classes, I would lack a stable foundation to
build upon.
Beyond the Discipline
Stepping outside of agriculture and looking at my experience outside my discipline, I can attest
these courses have equally impacted me in a unique way. While needing my core requirement for
English, I took World Literature. Though this class involved a great deal of reading, it also provided
opportunities to expand my writing skills. Not knowing how this could affect my life at the time, this
class allowed me to become a more sophisticated, intellectual writer in emails, letters and face-to-face
conversations. Having a more professional ALE role, I feel this course projected me to a higher level of
thinking and writing to handle my experience this semester.
The next beneficial class would be my Sociology class. My professor is native of Australia and
traveled the world all his life. Studying society, he opened my mind to think of people, situation,
predictions, philosophies and statistics that I subconsciously have used to adapt to my environments in
my ALE experience and life in general. Understanding how society views cultures of various roots and
breaking that down to real world experiences has advanced my ideas relating to society.
Another course outside my discipline is Technical Writing. This course was designed to
emphasize the importance of structure in formal writing. In the class we worked on a large proposal
project to be presented at the end of the semester. For instance, I learned what an email should consist
of, how to construct it, and what to say. I am utilizing this knowledge of email usage in my ALE
experience as I contact instructors, students, and faculty. I will be able to enhance these skills in writing
proposals for business, sales, agriculture or administration.

Beyond Academics
A very important set of skills outside of academics would be my experience as a student worker
through the Registrars Office. During my time, I learned the important, beneficial skills of answering
phones, emails, processing paper work, helping with students in the office and using computer software.
Being one of the busiest offices on campus, I can reflect back and see how close this connected to realworld application by dealing with students and parents every day on a wide variety of issues or
concerns. I was also able to understand the paper work process that an everyday student does not
understand and see first-hand the time, effort, and management requirements involved to accomplish
so much each day. Since the Registrar and Academic Affairs are so closely related, the transition of skills
was another stepping stone.
My next out of classroom experience would be working for a horse trainer. My work there is far
from academics but the knowledge I gained is applicable to anything in life. Regarding my ALE, I
discovered that working with horses and working with people, the qualities of honesty, reliability and
hard work are crucial. Learning to be true to your employer or coworker allows you to gain trust and
build a solid relationship in the work place which in the longer run results in better productivity and
accomplishments. With the task of keeping track of hours outside the office, knowing I will be honest
with my work history and progress reflects on my character that I have enhanced on while with
Academic Affairs.
Interconnectedness
Taking each concept and finding how, as a whole, each can complement the other is rather
simple when looking at what interconnectedness means. Each class helped me grow as a student,
employee, leader, and individual of society. The courses were different in the material I learned, but the
skills and knowledge that I took from the classes were on the same level of positivity and impact. A solid
foundation of ethics, knowledge and skills I have taken from each experience had the same implication
of elevating myself to new levels of success. Wrapping these together into one interconnected concept
increases my ability to be aware of how things in life can benefit from the other, help in the success, and
be completely different ideas but come to the same conclusion. Whether it was the knowledge and skills
from classes or work experience, it all funneled to build my character and mentality as a person. The
experience and benefits were different but ended in a common goal.
Global Awareness
As with anything in society, there are biases, stereotypes, and assumptions. Making the
transition of being a student to a more professional role has given me a broader perspective of
academics and society. One stereotype I have come across is students thinking instructors are not willing
to care or help students when in fact it is the complete opposite. After my exposure to Academic Affairs
and the Agriculture Department, I have seen first-hand the behind the scenes efforts and stress
professors endure. The misled attitude that a professor is never in the office and does not care is
falsified to an extreme when the student is not aware of the rigorous schedule some professors have.
Another assumption or preconception I have come across since I am a male, is pursuing a position that

most people consider to be for women only. Traditionally it was more prevalent for men to have
executive positions while women either stayed home or provided secretarial support. The perception of
a man entering a female dominated position has become more accepted. As the years proceeded on,
males entered the females area of domain and hence the assumption/preconception of why should I, as
a male be working in the office. I have had other experience in an office setting and find it to be
challenging and difficult in its own ways. Accountability of actions and more importantly words are in my
opinion the most crucial awareness tactic while in an office environment. In my experience I have
become aware of biases and assumptions that are not my own but are a true concern.
Broader Implications
Looking at a broad spectrum of global issues gives me a perspective of where I am going, where
I have been and what has changed in between. As with the issues above it is easy to succumb to falsified
information or improper portrayals in society without researching or experiencing the situation firsthand. While it can be easy for one to become biased from a bad experience it is important for a person
to keep an open mind. For myself and my experience this semester I have learned new traits, qualities,
and characteristics that I can continue to develop in my future as a graduate student and future
professional careers.