Running Head: AREAS OF GROWTH

Areas of Growth
Vanessa Calonzo
Seattle University

Confidence (LO 1, 3, 5, 6, 9; Artifacts B, C1, D, E, F, G)

AREAS OF GROWTH
At the heart of my experience in the Student Development Administration (SDA) program,
finding confidence in myself has been a major area of growth for me. I had a lot of practical
experience through multicultural mentoring, working in orientation programs, and college
access. I was able to grow in my positions at South Seattle Community College (SSCC), and I
eventually had the opportunity to be the director of my department. Even with all these
experiences, I entered the SDA program with a definite sense of imposter syndrome. I was so
impressed with the caliber of students in the program and the articulation they already had
through their experiences. I did not give myself that much credit, and there were many times I
felt my opinions and insights were not critical or informed enough to add value to the discussion.
With all my competing priorities, I just wanted to be able to keep up with everyone else who
seemed to have a better sense of the student development jargon and culture. Today, I am so
much more empowered to acknowledge the skills I already had and the growth I was able to
develop these past five years. Three subthemes surfaced as I reflected on what helped me
recognize this growth in confidence: articulation, conscientiousness, and sense of balance. These
subthemes represent areas of strength and faith I found in myself. Through this paper I will share
my journey and showcase how my confidence in these areas have helped me be a stronger
student development practitioner and leader.
Articulation (LO 1, 9; Artifact B, E, G)
Before starting the SDA program, I felt limited in my articulation of higher education and the
student development field. My experience at SSCC prior to starting the SDA helped me gain
practical knowledge from the daily grind of my job. As much as I felt connected to the work,
there was a piece of me that felt inadequate in explaining influences and implications. I felt like I
was seeing most of the puzzle pieces, but just could not explain how it all fit together. The SDA

AREAS OF GROWTH
program has helped me put these puzzle pieces together. SDAD 577 (Foundations), SDAD 578
(Student Development Theory), SDAD 576 (Leadership and Governance in Post-Secondary),
and EDUC 580 (Higher Education Law) courses gave me the history, philosophies, legal
implications, policies and constructs of our profession that I was hungry to learn about.
Learning Outcome #1 (Understanding the foundations and emerging nature of the Student
Affairs profession and higher education) was core to these courses. I also had tremendous
exposure to Learning Outcome #9 (Understanding issues surrounding law, policy, finance,
and governance) as we applied what we learned in class to current events and in my developing
professional practice with personnel, ethical, and legal matters at the community college. The
EDUC 500 (Intro to Educational Research) class and the research papers in many classes
exposed me to higher education resources, standards, and frameworks to utilize in my work. I got
to explore my identity through most classes as well, but especially EDUC 515 (Multicultural
Perspectives), EDUC 520 (Social Justice), and EDUC 5700 (Leadership in Education 1). We
were asked critical questions to reflect on and examined how our identities impact how we carry
out work in the field. Artifact G (My Leadership Philosophy) is one example of how my
identities impact how I see myself as a leader. It was through these courses and experiences that
I found a vocabulary to describe my work in such a more meaningful way.
I now feel I have the tools to better articulate my understanding of the higher education field,
student development, and my personal and professional philosophies in a way that feels so much
more informed and authentic. Looking at Artifact E (NASPA/ACPA Competency Assessment)
from 2011 compared to 2016 showed me a tremendous growth in knowledge in the field. I have
a better sense of the big picture on an international, national, state, and institutional level and see
how these influence agendas our institution prioritizes. Most importantly, this articulation of self

AREAS OF GROWTH
and my mission in the work of student development, as described in Artifact B (Integrated
Mission Statement), has given me vision to critically look at situations and identify gaps. I now
have more confidence to face challenges head-on, articulate the problem, and have informed
answers based on the knowledge I was able to gain through the program.
Balance (LO 3; Artifact F)
Another major area of growth that I have built more confidence in is my sense of balance.
My life has changed dramatically as I have progressed in the program. I was newly married
when I started the SDA program. I got a promotion at work and got opportunities to step up more
in leadership roles. Half way through the program, I found out I was pregnant and I had my first
baby. After a few year break, I returned to school. This past winter quarter taught me a lot about
my capacities. Loss, burnout, a new house, teenager schedule, and toddler antics got layered onto
work and school. I have been fortunate to have fantastic support system with my family, friends,
co-workers, and the faculty of the program because I had never felt this much stress before. I felt
I had to reprioritize my life quick. The extent of stress that this escalated to is one that I pray and
make effort to to not repeat.
From this challenging experience, I now have deeper appreciation for balance in my life and
am taking active steps to improve my well-being. My life is not just my own anymore and I have
others to consider as I evaluate my time. I want to be a transformative administrator in our field,
but I will not be able to do that unless I am healthy and mindful of those I work with. If I put
myself as last priority in my care, how can I be healthy enough emotionally, physically, and
spiritually to carry out any of my lifes work? Finding balance is important, and a necessity as I
face more difficult decisions in my work life and in my life in general as I get older.

AREAS OF GROWTH
I feel like I have such a better sense of how to find this balance in my life now. I have
actively looked to find strategies to address this stress. At work, I am learning to say no and am
focusing on what is critical in my priorities and letting go gracefully of projects and committees I
do not capacity to support. In school, I have asked for help from my peers and faculty. In my
personal life, I am setting aside designated time for family and for alone time. As much as I want
my family time to be more, they understand and recognize it is temporary while I finish school.
In the future, I plan to do more research on the concept of mindfulness. I truly believe in being
present in our work so students recognize we are being authentic. I want to be an example to
those I supervise and mentor that it is important to have work-life balance so we can be attentive
and aware as professionals. SDA Learning Outcome #3 (Exhibiting professional integrity and
ethical leadership in professional practice) is demonstrated through the modeling of this
behavior. In Artifact F (5 Year Professional Development and Action Plan), I make an
intentional commitment to learning and practicing more mindfulness in my Year 1 after graduate
school. All of these strategies are helping me to not only feel better, but also be a more engaged
person in all aspects of my life.
Conscientiousness (LO 5, 6; Artifact C1, D)
Another aspect of my experience in the SDA program that showed growth is my confidence
in my conscientiousness. Having experienced my own challenges as a student and through
research in our courses in the program, I feel I have gained a toolbox of resources to help me stay
aware of critical issues facing diverse students. Artifact C1 (Building Connections: Outreach
Ambassadors) shows one of my early attempts to not only be aware of the issues of First
Generation Student (FGS), but I try to be creative in creating an Ambassador program to meet
the needs of these diverse students. Today, it is still very important to me to not only be aware of

AREAS OF GROWTH
the issues out there, but to also be ready to be active in finding ways to address the challenges
our communities face. I am very proud to see how my department at work has grown to
encompass this conscientiousness in our outreach work. I have been purposeful to incorporate
student development theory and research into what we discuss and practice with our incoming
students as we guide them to good resources for a strong start. I have been so happy to use my
learning as a way to contribute to our campus projects. I have had the chance to demonstrate
Learning Outcome #5 (Adapting student services to specific environment and cultures) in
some of the special population work I have done as well. I have helped to reenergize
workgroups focused on supporting undocumented students and veteran students at our
institution. It is through partnerships, collaboration, and a dash of creativity that I am seeing my
contributions to these causes help make movement at our institution. In Artifact D (Professional
Letter of Promise), I was so touched to read that my contributor and mentor, Dr. Rosie
Rimando-Chareunsap, recognized these contributions and has been proud to see how I have been
able to develop my department these past 9 years of knowing me. It meant a lot to me to be
acknowledged for this work I am so passionate about. I truly feel I have accomplished Learning
Outcome #6 (Developing and demonstrating skills in leadership and collaboration) in both
my academic and professional world.
Conscientiousness felt like the most authentic word to describe the active growth I continue
to challenge myself to have. The word emphasizes not only being aware of the challenges
happening in the educational world, but it also pushes a call to action with this awareness. I am
very passionate about being a change agent in my work, and the development of this
conscientiousness has helped me to feel more confident to take next steps and to be more vocal
as I try to meet the needs of those students I serve. I am very proud of this growth.

AREAS OF GROWTH
Conclusion
In conclusion, I went from feeling intimidated to being so much more confident in my
leadership abilities. I have grown up these past five years in the program and have faced
challenges that required me to take a good look in the mirror, articulate who I am, reevaluate my
priorities, and ultimately challenge myself to take an active next step. I feel so blessed to have
had such a great support system from the program, my colleagues, mentors, family and friends. I
would not change any aspect of my experience because it has taught me to authentically navigate
and be sensitive to many of the challenges I know students also face.