Learning Outcome Narrative: Areas of Growth

(LO 1, 3 4, 8, & 10; Artifacts A, B, C-1, C-2, C-3, D, F, & G)

The pivotal experience that has most affected my decision to seek a professional career in
Student Affairs was the community and support I received during my time working as an
undergrad in the residence halls at Oregon State University (OSU). I experienced mental health
challenges and interpersonal relationship crises that made my transition into undergrad difficult. I
also came from a very privileged background; although I was excited to meet new and diverse
people, I struggled to connect with others. The Student Affairs professional staff at OSU helped
give me a safe place to learn and grow how to better know myself and interact with others, which
motivated my transition into this field.
My experience in graduate school has been nearly identical. When moving up to Seattle
and throughout my Student Development Administration experience, I struggled in relationships
and mental health. I had grown significantly in understanding others, but in this work I needed to
go deeper. I have worked hard and grown a lot in my ability to know myself and others, which
will serve me personally and professionally. Specifically, I have developed in the areas of:
emotional intelligence, multicultural competence, and understanding of power, privilege, and
oppression.
Emotional Intelligence (LO 8 & 10; Artifact B & D)
When I first transitioned to Seattle and began graduate school, I was very stressed and
had a hard time processing and communicating my emotions in my personal and professional
life. I discovered the concept of Emotional Intelligence during iLead, my Leadership Skills and
Team Management Course, and other professional development opportunities and it changed me
more fundamentally than anything else I have learned in my time in the Student Development

Administration program. I have always valued holistic and healthy lifestyle and work, and it is
something I have committed to in my Mission Statement (Artifact B).
As I learned about Emotional Intelligence, made it a part of my life, and then went on to
teach students about it, my outlook and success in my program and work improved. It has helped
me shape my professional identity and frames the way I approach conversations, the way I
educate, how I take care of myself, and how I encourage others to do the same. Emotional
Intelligence is a valuable and increasingly popular skill that has helped me achieve Learning
Outcome 10, establishing and enhancing professional identity. Through my work as a Student
Affairs professional, it is my goal to challenge others to grow in their ability to engage with
themselves and the world around them. Becoming emotionally intelligent and teaching through
this lens is the path I chose to accomplish this through.
An example of how I have been able to employ is when students that I advise or
supervise do not meet expectations. In the past, when students have missed deadlines or not met
desired outcomes, I have taken it as a personal failure and gotten frustrated, as I have done with
RAs who missed multiple meetings without notice, or failed to turn in program proposals until
days after they were due. To correct these issues, I take an emotionally intelligent approach; I
connect personally with the student, understand what caused the problem, clarify my
expectations, and provide clarity on why the work and method are important. I have also
improved the way I provide structure for students so that they are clearer on expectations ahead
of time. Understanding that need for support and structure has made me far more effective at
setting up students for success and having tough conversations from a place of caring and
understanding, in the Jesuit tradition.
Emotional Intelligence has also informed my practice around communication and

relationship building with students, parents, staff, faculty, and administrators through
vulnerability, respect, openness, and honesty (Brown, 2012). Such interactions and relationships
demonstrates my ability to communicate effectively in speech and writing, Learning Outcome 8,
and are highlighted by the DigiPen Dean of Students, Marshall Traverse, in my Professional
Letter of Promise, Artifact D. While my written communication can be long winded for the sake
of detail, my verbal communication during personal interactions is very strong. Whether it is a
student in crisis, an upset parent, a seasoned faculty member, a concerned counselor or advisor,
or roommates in conflict, I have had nothing but positive outcomes with those I work with.
In my Letter of Promise, Marshall highlights some areas where communication has been
critical. Because of my technological background I have been able to effectively communicate
with information technology staff members to develop a housing management software. I am
able to translate the needs of students and our staff team into database language in order to create
software. Given my background in gaming research and personal investment in video games, I
have used my communication skills to turn the needs and voices of DigiPen students into
proposal and policy around an eSports team as well as work with eSport athletes to understand
their responsibilities in creating teams.
Multicultural Competence (LO 3 & 4; Artifact A, C-2, C-3, & F)
Through my high school and undergraduate experiences, I began to understand how
unjust the world really is and how unkind it is to many people based on their identities. I also
began to understand that invisible structures of society and socialization were the cause of these
injustices, but at the time I did not have the words to identify them. I also further recognized how
many of my identities provided me many unearned privileges that have allowed me to navigate
my life and systems without many significant barriers. Through many experiences during my

time in this program, I have learned much more about my privileged identities, how I am a part
of a racist and oppressive society, and the history and modern context of socialization, laws, and
power dynamics. I have also learned about the identities and contexts of those identities different
from my own.
Through classes such as Student Development Theory, Multicultural Perspectives,
and Social Justice, I was able to learn about many different identities of students, their needs, and
some of the challenges that they face in the world and in their development. My reflection
around this topic is demonstrated through Artifact C-2, my Synthesis Memo from the
Multicultural Perspectives course. Through this class, and demonstrated in this paper are some of
the critical reflection I had around Learning Outcome 3, exhibiting professional integrity and
ethical leadership in professional practice. I express my thoughts and the importance of
including and learning about diverse individuals in higher education. I identify the Cycle of
Socialization as one of the key mechanisms for prohibiting individuals, including myself and my
students to developing multicultural competence (Adams, Blumenfeld, Hackman, Peters, &
Zuniga, 2013).
Through reflection and learning around multicultural competence, I have developed a
value and done work around Learning Outcome 4, understanding and fostering diversity,
justice, and a sustainable world formed by a global perspective and Jesuit Catholic Tradition.
During my time at University of Washington Bothell, I helped facilitate identity reflection at the
I.D.E.A. Project Multicultural Identity Retreat. I engaged in campus programming, discussion,
and activist around various identities such as space for meditation and religious use, the Black
Lives Matter activism, as well as serving undocumented students. Seen in my resume, Artifact
A, are some of my work with student government and UndocU Advocacy Training.

Other work that I completed that demonstrated both Learning Outcome 3 & 4 was
through my Student Development Graduate Research Project, Artifact C-3. Through this work
and research I unconventionally identified gamer identity as one that shares many similar social
barriers and stigma as other marginalized identities. For example, gamers and their experiences
have typically been seen as less than normal identities and experiences; people stigmatize
gaming experiences and relationships as unreal or inauthentic. Games have also been seen as
having little social value when they are actually an extremely powerful form of storytelling.
I demonstrated my integrity and ethical practice when the feedback I provided for Seattle
University demonstrated that their institution marginalized gamer students. As a Jesuit
Institution, Seattle Universitys mission is in line with fostering diversity and a sustainable
world in a Jesuit Catholic Tradition, and I made suggestions of how they could better do that for
gamer students. Artifact F demonstrates my commitment as a professional to work to contribute
a better understanding of gamer-student identity to higher education and Student Affairs so that
our profession can better understand and serve this student identity.
Understanding of Power, Privilege, and Oppression (LO 1 & 4; Artifact C-1, C-2, & G)
My reflection around my own identities throughout the program led me to consider what
unearned power and privilege I have as a result of those identities. When I started this program, I
believed that the systems of power, privilege and oppression existed, but knew very little about
the history, nature, or mechanics of how they worked. I knew that throughout my career I would
need to learn more about them, be able to have dialogue around the content, and be able take
ownership over my own identities in order to support students. I was terrified that coming from a
place of privilege would make this work hard to access and that my socialization would limit my
ability to engage. Although I have grown a lot in my understanding of this topic, as demonstrated

in my coursework and have put that understanding to practice through my professional work, I
recognize that there will always be necessity to improve.
Through my Multicultural Perspectives and Social Justice coursework I developed
comprehension of systems of power, privilege, and the mechanisms through which they impact
people of different identities. This coursework demonstrates Learning Outcome 4,
understanding and fostering diversity, justice, and a sustainable world formed by a global
perspective and Jesuit Catholic tradition. I demonstrate this competency through one of my
assignments, Artifact C-2. In this assignment I reflect on barriers to access of higher education
and the role that the Cycle of Socialization plays into the reinforcement of oppression (Adams,
Blumenfeld, Castaneda, Hackman, Peters, & Zuniga, 2013). With better understanding of these
mechanisms of power and oppression, I have been empowered to critically analyze processes,
policy, and procedure to ensure that students needs are met, and that they are not treated unjustly
by my institution.
I further demonstrate this competency through my Scholarly Reflection during the Best
Practices in Student Services course, Artifact C-1. In this reflection I discuss how marginalized
students have different needs and that not providing a diversity of resources and flexible or
attentive policies have significant impacts on the retention of these students, thus creating a
system of oppression (Kodma & Dugan, 2013). It has become clear to me that student
development work has as much to do with developing understanding and ability to work with
politics and policy as it does with directly working with students.
Through several of my classes, I have learned a great deal about the history of college
campuses and their role in activism and facilitating change in society around power, privilege,
and oppression, as it relates to Learning Outcome 1, understanding the foundations and

emerging nature of the Student Affairs profession and higher education. My demonstration of
this learning outcome was greatly supported by my team at University of Washington Bothell.
They encouraged me to seek opportunities, learn as much as I could, and reflect my new
knowledge and skills it in my professional work. I got to put it into practice during the annual
IDEA Project Retreat where I led facilitations on privilege and stereotypes. Another way I
demonstrated this outcome was through the inclusivity of varying identities Professional
Development Series, reflected in Artifact G. I developed the program in a way that allowed
students of any identity to experience and self-define the concept of leadership. Many leadership
programs around the country focus on the traditional definition and students with marginalized
identities have a hard tome connecting with and accessing the content.

References
Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zuniga, X. (2013). Readings
for diversity and social justice (Third edition). New York: Routledge.
Brown, B. (2012). Daring greatly: How the courage to be vulnerable transforms the way we live,
love, parent, and lead. New York, NY: Gotham Books.
Kodma, C. M. & Dugan, J. P. (2013). Leveraging leadership efficacy for college students:
Disaggregating data to examine unique predictors by race. Equity & Excellence in
Education. 42(6). 184-201.