Analysis of Knowledge, Skills, and Competencies Of all the knowledge, skills, and competencies that I have acquired while

a student at Loyola University Chicago, I believe that two stand out above the rest. The first is being able to challenge and support each student. The second is being able to meet each student where they are developmentally, providing the most room for individual growth. Being challenged and supported by those around me has gotten me this far and will continue to push me to be better. I look forward to pushing students to think in ways that they may not have before and to facilitating growth for which students may not have thought they had the capacity. The same thing happened to me and I look forward to doing the same in each student. This component is tied directly to being able to meet each student where they are developmentally. If I create an environment that is not challenging enough, then students will not grow to their full potential and vice versa. Learning where students are will take a lot of work, but through casual, no pressure conversations, I look forward to being challenged to find out the story of each student. From there, I feel I have created a solid base from which to grow. After I have tackled the first barrier of nervousness or apprehension, then I can dig deeper and look more closely at how to approach each student, keeping in mind that each is unique and that each needs a unique set of tactics to grow to the optimal level. Being able to challenge and support while also matching the assists with where each student is development will be vital to enhance the learning environment that each college student is due. It is a task that I am excited to begin as a new professional.

Action Plan In order to continue in my professional development, I look forward to both large scale and small scale interactions that will push me to be a better professional. At the small scale, I look forward to meeting with and learning from the people in my own office. Especially in higher education, each staff member has a variety of backgrounds, being able to tap into that wealth of experience will help me grow as a professional. The relationships I build with my peers and fellow staff will be necessary as I look forward to moving up and through the field. On a larger scale, I will continue to attend national conferences. I recently attended my first NASPA in Baltimore, MD and enjoyed the process tremendously. Being around other people in the field was extremely validating. But more than that, I especially enjoyed learning the new approaches and new research topics that higher education is looking into. Being able to go to a session around a topic that which I have never had any experiencing is both enlightening and challenging, to components I will continue to build as I go into the field.