Running head: DOCUMENT EXPLANATION

Document Explanation
Derek Smith
University at Buffalo

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Making the move from California to Buffalo, New York in August 2014 was one of the
scariest decisions that I had to make in my life. Leaving behind family, friends, and familiarity
was something that I did not think I was ready for. However, I knew that I wanted to pursue a
career in student affairs and wanted to experience a different environment, different students, and
gain more opportunities through my network within the field. This paper will provide a reflection
on my growth throughout the program and discuss each document that I have included in my
comprehensive portfolio starting in sequential order by semester. Some of the main themes that I
have discovered about myself professionally, personally, and academically are persistence,
resilience, and independence. Personally moving to Buffalo, I gained an immense amount of
independence in being on my own. Struggling through finding the right assistantship for myself
required a lot of resilience when seeking out different opportunities and when I did not think that
I could read any more, I had to persist knowing that the struggle was only temporary.
Explanation of Course Documents
Fall 2014 Semester
The Color of Water paper that I wrote for my diversity course was one that really stood out to me
and that I knew I had to include in my portfolio. Reading the Color of Water by James Mcbride,
there were so many common themes that stood out to me and experiences that I myself have
gone through. The story of a white mother being in a relationship with a black man is one that
my mother faced. I chose this document because it highlighted the social inequalities and
injustices that were and still continue to prevalent in society such as systemic discrimination,
racism, and prejudice. Growing up, I definitely looked different than my mother and would
always get questioned as to who my family members were and if I was adopted. This paper
allowed me to do a lot of self-reflecting and I remember discussing my self-worth in the paper

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and the expectations that others had of me.This paper allowed me to explore the concept of
privilege specifically with race and ethnicity. Understanding the stories and struggles of a white
lady who was in an interracial relationship and her son who faced societies barriers allowed me
to clearly understand and accept who I was as a person and know that I am not the only person
who has gone through internal struggles of self-identity in experiencing cognitive dissonance.
History of higher education was a course that challenged me immensely. Reflecting back on my
experience in the course, this was one where I did not think I would get through because of all
the dense material and the reading requirement. However, this course made me critically think
about issues in higher education and relate them to what is happening today. I chose my final
history paper for a variety of reasons to include in my portfolio because it encompassed a lot of
experiences that were new and challenging. This paper was not my strongest paper overall,
however I was pushed outside my comfort zone to explore and do actual research in the archives
of the library to find primary sources which I had never done. Researching student unrest during
the 1960s and 1970s really allowed me to further explore my own black identity. I think this
paper allowed me to feel comfortable in my place on campus and really validated and made me
feel proud of my own identity in that I did and continue to have a place within society and
although the injustices within society still exist I need to continue to take a stand and speak up
against what I need.
My self-reflection letter to my mentor after my first semester in Buffalo was really great to read
because looking back on it now I can see my growth in myself as a person, the growth in my
knowledge within the student affairs field as a whole, and the growth amongst my relationships
with people in the program. I am more confidently able to discuss different areas in depth and
have a clearer picture as to how each office supports the various students we serve on campuses.

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My reflection paper talked about my initial interest in the functional area of housing and
residence life and how during the first semester, professional in the field were brought into class
and case studies were analyzed. Continuing on being persistent, I am happy to say that I obtained
the experience that I looked for working as a Hall Director at Daemen College. The first semester
was a challenge pertaining to transitions, and little did I know that it would get much more
difficult. Looking back on my experience I continued to learn to be more independent and
resilience in and out of the classroom. I initially compared myself to others in the program but I
know that we all have our journey and paths and have learned to go at my own pace and focus on
myself.
For my introduction to student affairs course I chose to write about my final paper which
discussed transfer student experiences. Having transferred to a four year institution this paper
really allowed me to reflect on the struggles and difficulties that have contributed to where I am
today. In my graduate assistantship at a small private college, I see all the aspects of what I was
trying to accomplish with breaking down the silos in having all offices work together to help
transfer students through their transition to the new college. I have learned that collaboration
across different functional areas is not easy but it is possible. In the paper I discussed a transfer
student resource center on campuses which continues to be of interest in maybe doing further
research on comparing sophomore student experiences with transfer students because they have a
similar mentality in the utilization of resources and support services on campus. This paper
reminds me of where I started and the continued support that transfer students need on college
campuses.
Spring 2015

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For my Student Development Theory course I chose to include a Frindle, which encompasses
Scholossbergs Transition Theory, Ecological approaches, and development of faith and
spirituality. Having made the transition from west coast to east coast during my first year, I was
able to see through the different stages of transitions that students go through. Working in
residence life, this year has really sparked my growth in being able to understand students on a
different level. I am now able to effectively understand and empathize differently when
interacting with students because of their growth and development. Ecological theory was
another theory that allows me to understand student development through a different perspective.
I learned that the environment in which a student is in plays an integral part in the development
and success of students. Reflecting back on my experience in student development and
discussing the theories, it reminds me that I do not need to be an expert on each theory, but rather
have a generalized concept or knowledge on student development.
Counseling was a course that I really looked forward to in the program. The paper that I chose to
include in my portfolio was a reflection of my first helping session. As a hall director, the skill of
helping people is one that I use on a daily basis whether it be interacting with my Resident
Assistant staff or residents going through a crisis situation. Other key points that I noticed during
my helping session was my insertion of words to avoid silence. The course and through practice
helped me accept that silence between the helper and helpee is okay and that I should avoid
interjecting when the helpee is silent which was hard and very awkward for me to accept at first.
This paper really taught me that helping is complex, there are many steps to the process and that
I should not get caught up in focusing on one thing but rather making sure the process is natural.
The document that I chose from the American College Student course was a research packet that
my group and I presented on. Our focus for this assignment was understanding sophomore

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student experiences on campuses and addressing the sophomore slump. This paper reflects my
learning and growth in that I was able to effectively conduct research on second year student
experiences I learned that institutional commitment was a large factor in persistence amongst
second year students. The more connected a sophomore student feels to the campus the more
likely they will persist to degree completion. Through our research the major findings that were
different from the literature than our interviews was that none of the students that we interviewed
at the time were experiencing a sophomore slump. This assignment challenged me in my
development at critically analyzing data and not necessarily taking research data for face value
but to question it and understand that there were gaps with our current findings and interviews of
second year students.
The self-study document from Organization and Governance was one that I am most proud of
and that reflects my growth within the course and through the program. This semester long
project was difficult mainly because of the group dynamic and group conflict that arose in
getting everyone on the same page and agreement on certain decisions that we had to collectively
make as a group. The group project really opened my eyes in having a clear understanding of
making sure that each department that we included in the university had a purpose, it allowed me
to assess the needs of the campus as well as the outside community and the role in which the
university would support and foster a relationship with community engagement. Aspiring to be a
Dean of Students or Vice President for Student Affairs as one of my long term goals, this paper
contributed to my growth in being able to have a broader understanding of organizational
structure as well as working through real interpersonal conflict with team members.
Fall 2015

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Having been a finance major in my undergraduate education, I was extremely excited to take this
course in the program. The document that I chose for this course was my finance final because it
encompassed everything that we learned the entire semester. Something that I really learned in
this course was the difference between public and private institutions and the different funding
sources that each generate and how that plays out when decisions on campus are made. Working
at a private institution, it is very practical in seeing how alumni relations is a large component to
the operations of the university compared to a smaller public institution. I am very interested in
education policy and access and this class made me think a lot about how we provide access to
students based on the relationship of price and cost to attend higher education. As an educator, it
provides me with the thoughts on how to address this issue of affordability in providing an equal
opportunity for students to attend college.
The document that I am most proud of is my multicultural portfolio. This online document
allowed me to be creative in conducting a self-assessment in the areas of the Dynamic Model of
Student Affairs Competence. I had the opportunity to reflect on my current experiences and
develop a plan on what I wanted for a multiculturally specific development plan for the next
three years. Completing this assignment showed my growth within different competencies
specific to multiculturalism. The self-assessment helped affirm my ability and my knowledge,
skill, and awareness through different literature I have read, experiences that I have involved
myself in, or interactions that I have had over the year and a half in the program.
My assessment paper on diversity programming was one of the most challenging papers in the
program. I did not feel well equipped to conduct the assessment of the Daemen College
programming model. The intention of the assessment of the diversity programming model was to
see if residents on campus gained information from diversity programming and the effectiveness

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of resident assistants in implementing different techniques passive or active to bring an

awareness within their community. I chose this paper because it showcased my struggle with the
material which I think is important to highlight for myself in an area that I need to further
develop and work on.
Spring 2015
The document that I chose to include from Access and Choice was my first journal reflection on
the college choice process. I was able to reflect on the decisions I made when deciding to go to
college. This was an opportunity to see how much of a struggle it was for me not being able to
attend a four year institution from the get go because of courses I did not know that I needed to
take to be qualified. The journals reflect back to the work that I do in the Buffalo schools and is
meaningful that I had the opportunity to reflect back and put myself in the same time period as
some of the students applying to college for the first time. Being able to reflect back each week
on the work with the FAFSA completion project has been the best experience seeing that I am
able to make a small difference with students accessing college which is tremendous in being in
the college success center encouraging them to apply to college, validating their experiences, and
answering questions about the unknown.
The ABC project was one that I chose for Race, Ethnicity, and Multi-Cultural Education because
it allowed me to explore my own identity even further. Understanding who I am as a person only
makes me a stronger educator in the field because if I am unable to understand myself than I am
less effective in being able to help others. I also interviewed someone who I thought was
completely different than myself and realized that we in fact, have many similarities. The last
part of the project contributed to my learning in that I was able to draw from the literature more

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effectively than I have in past classes to conduct a cross cultural analysis between myself, my
interviewee, and the research.
Artifacts Explanation
Residence Hall Staff Picture. Serving as a Hall Director at Daemen College this year has been
one of the best experiences that I could have asked for. Reflecting back on my first semester at
UB, I knew that I wanted to experience working within housing and residence life. Having never
been an RA or have had prior experience working in housing, it made obtaining a position much
more difficult. This is a picture of my 25 member staff that I enjoy working with every day. This
picture means a lot to me because I was given the opportunity to work alongside these
individuals, they gave me a chance as their supervisor, and they have given back to me in so
many ways that I do not think they realize. The opportunity at Daemen has been a great start to
pointing me in the direction of where I would like to pursue a career next.
Leads Presentation. Each semester at Daemen College, I have presented at the Leadership
Series presentation open to the campus community. This opportunity to co present with the
Assistant Director of Residence Life really challenged me and helped me further develop and
grow as a person because one of my biggest fears is public speaking. This semester I had the
opportunity to speak on difficult conversations which is a complex discussion to have with
students on campus but it was well received by the campus community.
ACUHOI Internship. This is a picture of some of the staff members that I supervised over the
summer of 2015 during my internship at Johns Hopkins University. After having a rough
transition my first year in graduate school with my first assistantship, I wanted to make sure that
I had a different experience and opportunity. Working at Johns Hopkins over the summer opened

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the doors to many experiences and people that helped living on the east coast feel comfortable.
Although I do not have a picture of my supervisor, she took me in and really made me feel like I
mattered and that I was a part of her family-which I am so thankful for.
Student Development Theory Video. An artifact that is academically related that is
representative of my time in the program is the student development theory video that my group
and I made. I chose this artifact because student development is at the core of the work of student
affairs professionals. In the work that we do, student development is used in making decisions on
all levels and it reminds me of the use and importance of educating those who may be unfamiliar
with such theories working in higher education so that a better understanding of students is
happening. Another reason why I chose to include this video as an artifact is because of the
creative freedom that our group was allowed to explore through a video rather than a standard
traditional paper. It is reflective of our program in that we often times are given the opportunity
to express ourselves in creative and innovative ways to get the message across.
Daemen College Portrait. This is a picture of Daemen College where I currently work as a Hall
Director. I chose this picture because Daemen has given me "A World of Opportunity" as their
motto states. Not only have I been given the experiences in Residence Life, I have also been able
to gain experiences within the office of Leadership and New Student Orientation. I have been
fortunate enough to sit on various committees at the university and given autonomy to seek areas
of my interest. The staff here is like my extended family and my second year in the program
would have not been the same if I had not been offered the position at this small private liberal
arts college.