I

feel that I am most competent in the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

competency area as well as the Personal Foundations competency area. As an
undergraduate student, I had strong social justice experiences that provided me
with skills and knowledge to create learning environments with diverse viewpoints
and people. I believe I am able to identify strengths that individuals bring to the
group and how their unique values and experiences benefit the whole. I have strong
understanding of intersectionality and how intersecting identities impact and
individual and the lenses they use. I feel that I am very conscientious and always
asking questions of how things could be more inclusive and whose voice and
presence is missing from the conversation or experience. As an undergraduate, I
gained experience in this competency area though an Exploring White Identity
retreat, the NASPA Undergraduate Fellows Program, a mentoring and change agent
group called Project Social Justice, and through my work with survivors of sexual
and partner violence.
I also feel highly competent in the Personal Foundation competency area. I
am a very values driven person and feel that I have a strong understanding of my
personal values and beliefs. I understand the biases I hold and assumptions I make
because of my identities and actively challenge myself to deconstruct them when
necessary. I practice healthy self-care tactics and take care of myself outside of work
and school. I believe in work life rhythm that ebs and flows. I believe I am a
reflective paraprofessional who actively engages with the community and continues
to learn from my experiences.

I believe I have the most room for growth in the Assessment, Evaluation and
Research competency area as well as in the Law, Policy and Governance competency
area. While I do have quite a bit of experience in assessment and evaluation, I still
feel like I could use improvement. I am able to identify credible research and
evaluate, analyze and synthesize assessments, but do not feel fully comfortable
crafting research questions and producing quality research. I think I have improved
over the years in this competency area and now understand that research and data
collection can be fun and not daunting. There are ways to collect research that are
engaging and easily accessible, such as following a twitter hashtag. I plan to gain
experience in this competency area by completing the MA SDA track.
I also need more experience in the Law, Policy and Governance competency
area. I took a law course as an undergraduate and have a foundational
understanding of legal systems and how policy influences our work, but do not have
a strong understand of specific higher education law. I am excited to take the Higher
Education Law course and learn more about how law and politics influences the
work we do. I have experience working in an environment where law and policies
strongly governed the work I did (sexual violence work), and would welcome
additional experience that would challenge me to work within a legal context.