I love my job. I am blessed to be able to say that more days than not. I think it's a combination of being able to find the good in everything and truly enjoying what I do.
I find it difficult to explain what I do. There are some abstract parts of my work that are really hard to describe to someone outside of 'student affairs'. And I don't mean that in a snobby way, because I am often reminded that even I, with my counseling background, am not a traditional 'student affairs' person. But sometimes it's hard to understand the world around student life and development when you're not living it. And we are literally living it.
I oversee about 750 students and their well-being - counseling, mentoring, mediating, listening to, guiding them. This also includes managing their 1,500 parents, thankfully only a handful of which are of the helicopter variety (a student affairs term meaning the hovering, over-involved parent). I also run two residence halls, overseeing all aspects of the students' communal living experience - maintaining their facilities, creating a positive community through programming by the RAs and Hall Councils and by overseeing all judicial cases, and encouraging positive friendships/roommate relationships. I am on call 24/7 for situations surrounding any of my students - medical emergencies, alcohol poisonings, mental health needs, etc. Because I oversee two halls, I serve as the supervisor for the student staff in both buildings, which adds up to about 70 students - 23 RAs, 1 student hall director, 2 building assistants, 24 desk workers, and about 20 hall council members.
None of my days look the same for I am wearing a different hat all the time, from meeting to meeting or day to day. I am an advisor, a colleague, a leader, a supervisor, a manager, a mentor, a resource, a counselor, a mediator, a conduct coordinator, and a friend. And sometimes while playing those roles, we get to have some fun.
This past weekend I took 7 of my RAs to a place called Sky Zone, an indoor trampoline park in Plymouth where we jumped. And jumped. And jumped. And let me tell you...I underestimated the ability to channel the inner-child in me by jumping on a trampoline. It is tough! After about 10 minutes, we were almost spent. Huffing and puffing. Needing water. And a break. We sat and relished in our jealousy as we watched the kids bounce around as though they were super bouncy balls bouncing around on a wood floor, no inhibitions, worries or restraints. To a degree, their energy was contagious so we gathered our strength and bounced the afternoon away.
It was great to get away from campus and all of the stressors that come with being a college student. We spent an afternoon having fun. No homework. No confrontations. No stress. It was wonderful. We finished the day with a staff dinner at PF Changs, following by dessert at The Cheesecake Factory. It was a day I was proud to say I work at St. Olaf College with these students. It was a day that I will remember when my phone screams at me at 3am for my weekly middle-of-the-night emergency. The meaningful work that we do here is why I choose to do this day in and day out but days like these are ones that remind me we all need to have fun along the way...no matter what we do.
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