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Narrative Description Victoria Navarro Benavides Seattle University

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One major lesson that captures my time and experiences at SU is the following: leave something better than what you entered into. I immediately think of this clich yet helpful idea because my goal in sharing with you my experience as a student and my critical yet compassionate critique of the programs is to create a better SDA experience for future students. Some of the topics that will be discussed are academic and personal growth, professional development, critiques of the SDA program, and the purpose and celebration of my degree. Academic & Personal Growth My academic and personal growth have been deeply tied to understanding how (a) context and experience matters in the field of student affairs and (b) my role as a scholar practitioner is to gather all the necessary skills needed to challenge myself and others to always advocate for better learning environments. Academically, the most important lesson learned was that institutional type, legacy, climate, and culture (or what I label as context.) influences the ways student affairs professional support students in their exploration of self-authorship, identity development, and self-advocacy. Via effective teaching methods used and culturally competent readings assigned in SDAD 578 and a project investigating institutional type in SDAD 577, I was challenged to think about how student development theories can help me be an informed practitioner in a diversity of campuses. More specifically, exploring the identity development module in SDAD 578 (Pizzolato, 2003; Baxter-Magolda, Bem, Chickering, Cross and FhogenSmith; Kegan, Ferdman and Gallegos, Gallagher, Helms, Kim, and Lev as cited in Evans et al., 2005 ) taught me the language and purpose of theory in our field. Now that I know that selfauthorship is a meaning making process crucial to students development and community cultural wealth is a liberating framework to teach students of color, I can proactively help students develop a strong sense of self.

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Personally, I have come to realize that context significantly informs the role I am able to play as scholar practitioner. I want to be a part of a campus that encourages me to promote selfadvocacy amongst students, faculty, and staff. My experience working at Seattle University has taught me that advocacy looks different in this context. Issues like social justice, activism, and advocacy are directly correlated to service here. This connection is valid and important. I also know that I feel most comfortable in institutional contexts where social justice, activism, and advocacy move beyond service and toward action invested in challenging oppression. Professional Development Via GAship and Internship In my Graduate Assistantship role with the Office of Multicultural Affairs, it was important that I effectively communicate the sense of urgency I associate with social justice work, particularly retention efforts aimed at marginalized students, to colleagues and undergraduate leaders I work with. In light of this sense of urgency, I also needed to receive and actively listen to the approaches of others doing social justice work because sustainable change within institutions requires multiple sources of support. Similarly, my graduate assistantship reinforced my commitment to being a democratic educator who believes it is crucial to utilize critical methods of learning, like problem-posing education, to empower students to advocate for their needs, wants, and dreams. Both lessons were reinforced by my SDA internship. All of my internship units were completed with SUs International Student Center. Although my internship objectives varied in scope, I learned two very important lessons at my site. First, ISC and other international centers not only plan and support student programs but they also ensure international student are in compliance with government polices. Secondly, there is limited research, theories, and best practices explored in student affairs and student development programs that relates to international students. As U.S. colleges continue to recruit

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international students, there is a need for our fields to explore the purpose and direction of international student services. Critique of SDA Program I offer honest and compassionate critiques of the program in an effort to provide some insight into areas of growth that I believe will benefit future students. These critiques are briefly shared below: Although internship is a great opportunity to build professional experience in different functional areas, the syllabus and assignments are cumbersome considering that we are required to complete 300 hours of field work for our degree in this pass not pass course(s). It would benefit the program to reorganize the structure of internship and limit the amount of journals and written assignments required for 3 credits so that students can be invested in the work done at their internship site. Aside from SDAD 578, SDAD 559, and AEDT 510, I felt like the academic courses in the SDA program lacked in rigor and teaching methods employed were minimally engaging. With talks of increasing the number of SDA students, I think the College of Education needs to assess whether or not the SDA faculty structure (only 2 fulltime and one parttime) is sustainable for the program and faculty. A current faculty member, Dr. Yamamura, is doing commendable research and teaching, yet there is little time for her to foster relationships with her advisees. Increasing the number of students requires that we increase the number of full-time faculty to properly serve SDA students. As the program continues to attract students from across the nation with diverse experiences and interests in practice, policy, and research, we need to be able to enhance

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their professional and academic development. Currently, SDA lacks opportunities for students to engage in and assess educational policy. I recommend supporting faculty who are doing research, creating more spaces for students to learn about assessment and policy as it relates to our work, and empowering our students to see the benefits of being well-rounded student affairs professionals. Making Meaning of My Degree My educational journey and MA degree means that I will be a part of 4% of Latin@ people in the U.S. that have a post-bachelorette degree (Solrzano, Villalpando & Oseguera, 2005). This phenomenal accomplishment demonstrates the commitment, love, and support I have received from generations of familia, antepasados, and mentors. I intentionally completed this degree in appreciation for the shared and unshared testimonios of my antepasados and the generations of students of color, working-class communities, queer and fierce communities, mujeres, and resilient youth struggling to make sense of what it means to be college educated. Your resiliency inspires my resiliency.

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References Evans, N. J., Forney, D. S., & Guido, F. (2010). Student development in college: Theory, research, and practice (2nd edition). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Pizzolato, J.E. (2003). Developing self-authorship: Exploring the experiences of high risk college students. Journal of College Student Development, 44(6), 797-812. Slorzano, D. G., Villalpando, O., & Oseguera, L. (2005). Educational inequities and Latina/o undergraduate students in the United States: a critical race analysis of their educational progress. Journal of Hispanic Higher Education, 4(3), 272-294. doi: 10.1177/153819270527655