Prior to my first semester a graduate student in Loyolas Higher Education program, I thought I knew exactly who I was and

that very little would be able to shake that. I thought that I would go through the program, learn how to put on amazing events for my students, how to network a room like no ones business, and be on that fast-track to becoming a senior-level administrator by the time I was 30 (Note: I had envisioned that I would already have had my doctoral degree for about 2 years before this part). I swore that my path was clear and that nothing could stop me from getting there. But as I went through the first week of classes and met the rest of the members of my cohort, I learned my action plan to get to where I wanted to be was also the same plan of about half of the people in my class. This rattled my mind and sent me into a tail-spin as I tried to make sense of shattered pieces of the perfect plan I thought I had created. What I have learned and gained from Loyolas Higher Education program has been invaluable. I have learned to develop resilience. In the face of uncertainty, of great stress and fatigue, nothing could push me harder than my ability to navigate through various systems and experiences to become a stronger and more competent individual. I have learned how to think critically and to examine systems of power, privilege, and oppression and how these systems influence the ways in which I navigate my work, my life, and the interactions I have with others. I have also learned how to identify and navigate through campus politics in order to understand the complex ways in which seemingly inconceivable and unexplainable decisions are made by the administration of an institution. But most importantly, I have learned how to manage my own personal values and beliefs while experiencing conflict and sever dissonance with the values and actions of the institution I am in and those who operate within it. As a new professional I continuously strive to take on challenging opportunities and to engage in new experiences in which I can be placed outside of my comfort zone. The times I

have been able to see tremendous growth and development within myself have been during the moments in which I have found myself in new situations or facing some degree of conflict with a colleague, a peer, a student, or even an institution. Growth occurred in these moments of extreme dissonance because I was forced to think and operate in ways that I would not have normally been asked to operate in. By doing so, I have learned how to engage in critical thinking and selfreflection to assess a situation, asses the dynamics at play, and my own positionality within the experience, and to make the best decisions possible. I am very well aware of the tremendous privilege I hold by being afforded the opportunity to study in such a program like Loyolas and to have be able to gain invaluable knowledge and experience through a graduate assistantship with the university. These experiences have taught me that learning and knowledge acquisition come in various forms and that there is much value in the ways in which I continue to obtain new knowledge and skills to better myself as a professional as well as an advocate for social justice.