By Marianna Canales, Texas State University
I vividly remember my first day of Graduate Hall Director training. After an incredibly long day of learning every policy and procedure, I couldn’t help but think, “What did I get myself into?”. You see, I didn’t have a traditional residence life background. I wasn’t a resident advisor (RA) in undergrad, but I lived in the residence halls the first two years and then the university apartments. I was fairly confident that those experiences would be enough to prepare me to be a graduate hall staff. Unfortunately, it turned out I knew very little about the responsibilities and work that residence life professionals deal with on a day-to-day basis.
Reflecting back on where I started and where I am now, I cannot compare the amount of growth and opportunities that I had at Texas A&M University to any other assistantship or program that I would’ve been a part of. It is astonishing to think about the type of person I was when I first began the job and the individual that I have grown into two years later. It is one thing to find individuals who will help you and pour into you, but it is another thing entirely to find a whole community that not only believes in you but is willing to guide and push you into the professional they know you can be. I will always cherish and appreciate the family that I built and how they gave me the opportunity to live and grow out of my comfort zone.
Being a full time graduate student and working part time, it can be difficult to manage competing priorities when you are the type of individual who wants to do it all. I wish I could say I found a balance and sometimes said no to opportunities, but that is not what happened. I immersed myself in all that Residence Life and my program had to offer. I learned to embrace it all and ended up loving a functional area that was supposed to be a pit stop. I continually asked myself what type of impact I wanted to make and how I wanted to be remembered. I didn’t know how to go about leaving my mark which is why when I first started I felt like I didn't know what I was doing—until I did. I believe that is how a lot of us start in these positions. In Residence Life we hit the ground running and I hopped right on board. I relied on my gut, and as time went on, I relied on my experiences, training, and interactions to guide my decisions. I consistently asked questions, which everyone in the department and program was always willing to answer. When there were opportunities to share my ideas, there were individuals who were willing to meet me halfway. Most importantly, I was surrounded by great supervisors and mentors who took the time to get to know me and my passions. The amount of professional development I received through the department and the willingness of others to teach me, helped me see the value in what we do. It helped me realize that in our profession it is the little things that can have the greatest impact.
As graduate students, we are at a pivotal point in our professional journey. We are trying to find our way and make meaning of our own experiences. We are trying to learn about who we are and figure out the professionals we want to be. When I started, I just knew that I wanted to be the change that is seen in higher education. I didn’t have a clear why until I saw the value in the work that I was doing. It took me a while to realize the true value that my RAs played in my role. I like to tell them now that they are the hands and feet of the organization and I cannot do what I do without them. The sense of accomplishment I feel, the supervisor, and the leader that I am today, is because of my past Lechner/McFadden and FHK Complex staff teams. I, surprisingly, learned so much from them and I can only hope that they learned just as much from me. When I first started the job, I knew that I wanted to make an impact and help students. What I didn’t realize was how students help and teach us to be better professionals. I was not expecting 22 resident advisors to leave such an impact on me and influence the person I was becoming. They became my why. They shaped my outlook on supervision, showed me the leader I want to be, challenged my thinking, helped me come up with innovative solutions, and even encouraged me to apply for my doctoral program. It is for them that we do our work and it is because of them that we will continue to do our best and never settle. My staff will forever have a special place in my heart.
Balancing graduate school, work, family, friends, and any other extra curriculars is tough. However, it taught me to make the best of situations and to be grateful for the chances we are given to make a difference in the lives of others. I learned that we are not the outcome of our circumstances, but we get to choose our outcomes and hopefully change the circumstances in which we are given. I learned the art of having difficult conversations while being clear and kind. If you knew me before my time in Residence Life, conversations, especially difficult ones, were not always easy for me. I have now learned to handle them with my head held high and with grace. I gained confidence in myself and in my decisions, which has allowed me to share my thoughts and insights in different spaces. I became more aware of my surroundings and utilized crisis management skills during power outages, many fire alarms, and flooding. I was able to bring my own personality and positivity into my staff and community, which unsurprisingly, ended up being my favorite part of the job. I “choose success” on days when the going got tough, but found value in being able to make my own decisions and learning when I made a mistake.
As a Graduate Hall Director, I realized that I was prepared to be the future of the profession and take on my first full-time job as a Residence Director at Texas State University. I even left with a sense of purpose and drive, and is why I will continue my education through my doctoral program. I can already see how my experiences at Texas A&M University are going to make a difference in the work that I will be doing in this new role and all that I be learning in the classroom. As a new professional and an individual who will continue to pursue their education, I have found that it is passion and willingness to adapt that makes a difference in our roles. I appreciated and valued the mentors and leaders who set the bar high and were great examples for me to follow. I want to encourage full-time professionals who have the opportunity to make an impact on graduate students, to continue to be our guides as we navigate all that residence life and higher education encompasses. You might not realize it, but the part you play makes a big difference and you help shape and mold us into the professionals that we will become.
