I can't say that anything overly new or exciting has happened over the last week, but it sure was a busy one! I started off last week by leading the weekly staff which ended up taking a lot longer than it was supposed to, but we had a lot to go over and I was told I did a good job. Tuesday was the first "real test" of our staff's preparedness for summer, as we had our first orientation Check-In for an orientation group, which was about 260 students, so that was fun. I'm the main person in charge of orientation check-ins/outs so I was a bit nervous, but my staff were champs and we really had relatively few issues and I was quite pleased. Today was crazy trying to prepare for TWO orientations that are happening tomorrow, but I think we finally got all the kinks worked out...I hope.
In terms of "New York-y" things, I think for the most part I'm just going to be a "regular" New Yorker for the rest of the time I'm here, aside from when I have visitors. It's nice to just take things as they come and not feel so rushed to do something all the time. I know people want me to go and take tons of pictures and do as much as I can, but honestly, I've learned to just enjoy the moment. Growing up as kid vacations were always planned and so structured which I can appreciate since they were expensive and we only had so much time, but when I went to Washington DC last year with a couple friends over Spring Break we for the most part didn't really plan anything and it was one of the best vacations I've taken. I absolutely want to explore more and do some of the things I haven't, but I know I've seen and done more things in my five weeks here than many students do in their entire college experience at NYU, so I'm happy with where I'm at. For a person who thrives on organization and structure, this has been an important and valuable lesson, and I'm very at peace with it.
As I write "five weeks here", there is a bit of a sadness there. I'm now past the halfway point of my time here at NYU, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Some days I do miss having a place of solitude and genuine quiet to go to, but for the most part I absolutely love this city (ha, first I wrote town, but that's so wrong) and this school. At the same time, I'm so excited for this fall and to get started being a Residence Hall Director and learn everything I can there. For now I'm just grateful for all the experiences I've had and will have, and for everything I have in my life.
Cheers for now!
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Deeper Reflections
So maybe I will only be posting once a week. We'll see, I make no promises!
The last 9-10 days or so since I last updated have gone by so fast, and I can't believe I've been here 4 weeks already. At the same time it's going by so fast that I feel like I've been here a while, which I think just means I've really slipped into a routine and am feeling very comfortable in where I'm at.
This week actually marked the first "normal" week of the summer for me if such a thing exists. My supervisor was back this week and we got to talk about a few things and I really feel like I'm accomplishing some good tasks. I've stepped a bit in terms of leadership and supervisory/delagatory (not a word, I know, but it's my blog so :P) roles which is making me feel good too. I received my transition report for this upcoming fall for my RHD role back at UCM, and I think the combination of that and doing some concrete work here has established a sort of more mature demeanor for me out there, not that I've ever had a problem with maturity...
I have also been continuing to participate in interviews for positions here at UCM, which is proving to be some of the most interesting experiences I've had here. Positions are competitive here, and it isn't just that NYU demands more (which in fairness, they might), but they've developed this interview style that kind of allows them to cut through the crap and get to the actual answers they want, and it's very easy to tell when a person is being fake. Hopefully my observations in the process will help me when I'm interviewing for positions next spring. I can only hope!
A blog entry I wrote a few weeks ago mentioned that I had noticed that I thought I was the minority here in NYC. Since I wrote that I've really been reflecting on what that means to me and my environment, and whether my observation was correct to begin with. After being here a few weeks I don't think minority is the correct word to use here, as if I did that it would mean that I'm classifying all Caucasians as the minority while all other races would collectively join together as the dominant culture, which is wrong. So I'm not sure exactly what term to use, because if I still classify all Caucasians together against all the other races then "we" would actually be the dominant race. Still though, I've definitely reflected on my statement that when I was thinking of whites as the minority that I didn't feel like a minority, and I didn't even know what that should feel like.
Since I wrote that I've come to realize that I didn't feel like a minority because of my privilege. Even if whites/Caucasians were actually the minority, it wouldn't change my privilege. Because I am a white male from a middle class family in the suburbs of St. Paul, I automatically have a privilege that many other races and cultures do not have. I can still more easily get a bank loan, not constantly worry about if I'm being judged by the color of my skin, or suspect that I might be being treated differently because of my culture. I will still never understand the struggle that people "different than me" face every day, just because of who they are. As I continue to reflect on my experiences and my understanding of diversity and social justice issues evolves, I'm sure my time here in NYC will weigh heavily on my values system. I'm also sure I will continue to reflect on my observations while I'm here in NYC.
That was kind of heavy, so I'll end on a humorous note. One of my cohort members was here visiting yesterday, and while walking on the sidewalk a guy stopped to ask me for $1. However, it wasn't what you might think it was for. He asked for $1 so he could buy some weed. Yep, that happened. Oh New York, I love you...
The last 9-10 days or so since I last updated have gone by so fast, and I can't believe I've been here 4 weeks already. At the same time it's going by so fast that I feel like I've been here a while, which I think just means I've really slipped into a routine and am feeling very comfortable in where I'm at.
This week actually marked the first "normal" week of the summer for me if such a thing exists. My supervisor was back this week and we got to talk about a few things and I really feel like I'm accomplishing some good tasks. I've stepped a bit in terms of leadership and supervisory/delagatory (not a word, I know, but it's my blog so :P) roles which is making me feel good too. I received my transition report for this upcoming fall for my RHD role back at UCM, and I think the combination of that and doing some concrete work here has established a sort of more mature demeanor for me out there, not that I've ever had a problem with maturity...
I have also been continuing to participate in interviews for positions here at UCM, which is proving to be some of the most interesting experiences I've had here. Positions are competitive here, and it isn't just that NYU demands more (which in fairness, they might), but they've developed this interview style that kind of allows them to cut through the crap and get to the actual answers they want, and it's very easy to tell when a person is being fake. Hopefully my observations in the process will help me when I'm interviewing for positions next spring. I can only hope!
A blog entry I wrote a few weeks ago mentioned that I had noticed that I thought I was the minority here in NYC. Since I wrote that I've really been reflecting on what that means to me and my environment, and whether my observation was correct to begin with. After being here a few weeks I don't think minority is the correct word to use here, as if I did that it would mean that I'm classifying all Caucasians as the minority while all other races would collectively join together as the dominant culture, which is wrong. So I'm not sure exactly what term to use, because if I still classify all Caucasians together against all the other races then "we" would actually be the dominant race. Still though, I've definitely reflected on my statement that when I was thinking of whites as the minority that I didn't feel like a minority, and I didn't even know what that should feel like.
Since I wrote that I've come to realize that I didn't feel like a minority because of my privilege. Even if whites/Caucasians were actually the minority, it wouldn't change my privilege. Because I am a white male from a middle class family in the suburbs of St. Paul, I automatically have a privilege that many other races and cultures do not have. I can still more easily get a bank loan, not constantly worry about if I'm being judged by the color of my skin, or suspect that I might be being treated differently because of my culture. I will still never understand the struggle that people "different than me" face every day, just because of who they are. As I continue to reflect on my experiences and my understanding of diversity and social justice issues evolves, I'm sure my time here in NYC will weigh heavily on my values system. I'm also sure I will continue to reflect on my observations while I'm here in NYC.
That was kind of heavy, so I'll end on a humorous note. One of my cohort members was here visiting yesterday, and while walking on the sidewalk a guy stopped to ask me for $1. However, it wasn't what you might think it was for. He asked for $1 so he could buy some weed. Yep, that happened. Oh New York, I love you...
Friday, June 3, 2011
Digging Deeper Into NYU, and Lessons Learned
Whoops! I didn't mean to go a week without posting...I guess that's just how fast my time here is going, yikes!
This week has actually been pretty slow in terms of things to do at work, mainly because we're ahead of the game and our supervisor is gone. But, I'm not complaining! I have started to bond a little bit more with the SAs which makes me happy, but I only interact with a few of them on a regular basis because of how their schedules work out. I was however invited to dinner with a few of them last night at one of the dining halls, so that was fun! I'm hoping I can get to know them better over the next couple weeks.
I did have 2 instances this week where I really let myself down. 2 of the things I pride myself on are responsibility and time management. Tuesday night there was a SA meeting that I didn't really need to be at because it's outside of my normal hours and I don't have much to add, but I had planned on going and let people know I was going to be there. The meeting was supposed to be at 9:30pm, but cue me looking at my phone at 10:00 realizing I missed it, and completely forgot about it. I was embarrassed and felt terrible about it, but their supervisor didn't care at all. I was more upset I let myself down and made a mistake like that. Unfortunately something similar happened yesterday. I was supposed to be a part of a couple interviews for open positions yesterday and today. Somehow yesterday I got the times mixed up and missed the interview yesterday. I realized what I had done and immediately sent an e-mail to the coordinator and apologized. I never heard back from her, but this one I truly felt horrible about, especially since it affected other people in the central office. It was a group interview, so I know it was fine I wasn't there, but I was extremely upset with myself yesterday about this. I know mistakes happen, but as I said I pride myself on time management and responsibility, this really got me down. I've made some changed to my calendar and have tried to make sure this won't happen again, but the damage is done. Hopefully people aren't too upset.
That was the negative, but I did have a lot of positive this week. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a recognition banquet/event for the entire Student Affairs division. The fact that such an event exists is itself incredible. I didn't know very many people at the event, and didn't meet anyone knew, and I almost left early because of that. But, I decided to stay and here about some of the award recipients. The staff and students who were all recognized all sounded like they had done some really great things. Employees who had were celebrating 10, 15, 20, etc year anniversaries were also recognized, which I thought was really nice. I'm not sure some of the people in attendance knew how lucky they were to be at an institution that publicly recognizes its employees for their service and outstanding achievements, based on the amount of side conversations going on, but it really is awesome. I'm a huge believer in the power of recognition as a motivational tool, so this event was a big deal for me.
Today I participated in application rankings for First Year Residential Experience floors, which are first-year living-learning communities. This was again a great experience, and I really enjoyed reading some of the applications. It was quite apparent where these new students were in terms of maturity based on the content of their answers, which was really interesting to go over. One of the communities I was reviewing applications for was a community-service themed community. Many of the applications made these over-the-top grandiose statements and had some incredibly in-depth community service experiences. This actually got a little tiring after a while, until I came to one application. This student didn't have near the amount of experiences as some of the other applicants, but told this story about she had this one profound experience that kind of changed her life and the way she viewed the world. I rated this application higher than a lot of the others. It just kind of made me step back for a moment and put everything in perspective and realize that while all these other people might have some amazing experiences, this student could be equally great for different reasons. Little things like this get me really excited about this field, and only solidify for me this is the field where I need to be.
After we finished all the applications I sat in on an interview for a candidate who was applying for a Residence Hall Assistant Director position, which here at NYU is an entry level position like the ones I'll be applying for other places next year. I was happy to sit in on this interview for several reasons. For one, if I were asked those questions today, I would have ran out of the building because I don't know that I could have answered them anywhere near well-enough. But, I was also interested to see not only how the candidate answered the questions, but also how the other interviews probed for more detailed answers and what they responded to. After the interview we all met to share our experiences, which I stayed quieter for, because I didn't know as well what they were looking for, but I did add a bit of perspective. Next spring I'll be going through (hopefully) a lot of these type of interviews, so it was a great experience overall.
Ok, that's a long enough blog post. 2 of my friends are in a plane right now on their way here, and I can't wait for them to get here! I'll update again soon!
This week has actually been pretty slow in terms of things to do at work, mainly because we're ahead of the game and our supervisor is gone. But, I'm not complaining! I have started to bond a little bit more with the SAs which makes me happy, but I only interact with a few of them on a regular basis because of how their schedules work out. I was however invited to dinner with a few of them last night at one of the dining halls, so that was fun! I'm hoping I can get to know them better over the next couple weeks.
I did have 2 instances this week where I really let myself down. 2 of the things I pride myself on are responsibility and time management. Tuesday night there was a SA meeting that I didn't really need to be at because it's outside of my normal hours and I don't have much to add, but I had planned on going and let people know I was going to be there. The meeting was supposed to be at 9:30pm, but cue me looking at my phone at 10:00 realizing I missed it, and completely forgot about it. I was embarrassed and felt terrible about it, but their supervisor didn't care at all. I was more upset I let myself down and made a mistake like that. Unfortunately something similar happened yesterday. I was supposed to be a part of a couple interviews for open positions yesterday and today. Somehow yesterday I got the times mixed up and missed the interview yesterday. I realized what I had done and immediately sent an e-mail to the coordinator and apologized. I never heard back from her, but this one I truly felt horrible about, especially since it affected other people in the central office. It was a group interview, so I know it was fine I wasn't there, but I was extremely upset with myself yesterday about this. I know mistakes happen, but as I said I pride myself on time management and responsibility, this really got me down. I've made some changed to my calendar and have tried to make sure this won't happen again, but the damage is done. Hopefully people aren't too upset.
That was the negative, but I did have a lot of positive this week. Yesterday I had the opportunity to attend a recognition banquet/event for the entire Student Affairs division. The fact that such an event exists is itself incredible. I didn't know very many people at the event, and didn't meet anyone knew, and I almost left early because of that. But, I decided to stay and here about some of the award recipients. The staff and students who were all recognized all sounded like they had done some really great things. Employees who had were celebrating 10, 15, 20, etc year anniversaries were also recognized, which I thought was really nice. I'm not sure some of the people in attendance knew how lucky they were to be at an institution that publicly recognizes its employees for their service and outstanding achievements, based on the amount of side conversations going on, but it really is awesome. I'm a huge believer in the power of recognition as a motivational tool, so this event was a big deal for me.
Today I participated in application rankings for First Year Residential Experience floors, which are first-year living-learning communities. This was again a great experience, and I really enjoyed reading some of the applications. It was quite apparent where these new students were in terms of maturity based on the content of their answers, which was really interesting to go over. One of the communities I was reviewing applications for was a community-service themed community. Many of the applications made these over-the-top grandiose statements and had some incredibly in-depth community service experiences. This actually got a little tiring after a while, until I came to one application. This student didn't have near the amount of experiences as some of the other applicants, but told this story about she had this one profound experience that kind of changed her life and the way she viewed the world. I rated this application higher than a lot of the others. It just kind of made me step back for a moment and put everything in perspective and realize that while all these other people might have some amazing experiences, this student could be equally great for different reasons. Little things like this get me really excited about this field, and only solidify for me this is the field where I need to be.
After we finished all the applications I sat in on an interview for a candidate who was applying for a Residence Hall Assistant Director position, which here at NYU is an entry level position like the ones I'll be applying for other places next year. I was happy to sit in on this interview for several reasons. For one, if I were asked those questions today, I would have ran out of the building because I don't know that I could have answered them anywhere near well-enough. But, I was also interested to see not only how the candidate answered the questions, but also how the other interviews probed for more detailed answers and what they responded to. After the interview we all met to share our experiences, which I stayed quieter for, because I didn't know as well what they were looking for, but I did add a bit of perspective. Next spring I'll be going through (hopefully) a lot of these type of interviews, so it was a great experience overall.
Ok, that's a long enough blog post. 2 of my friends are in a plane right now on their way here, and I can't wait for them to get here! I'll update again soon!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)