If I Could do it all Over Again...

Now that I am in the final days of my graduate experience at USD, I felt it was very appropriate for me to reflect on my overall experience. I have said it many times, and I will continue to say it when I move on to my next institution, this program has been one of the best decisions of my life. I started this program thinking I had everything figured out and that I wasn't really in need of any further development, but I was way wrong! This program helped me grow so much as a person and as a higher education practitioner.

As I am reflecting on my experience, I find myself asking the question, If could do it all over again, would I change anything?

For the most part, I can confidently say that I wouldn't change anything. In thinking about my experience as a Graduate Assistant, I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to have two different assistantships. Although I did not find what I thought I would out of my experience working with Greek Life, it was very rewarding and a learning opportunity for me. My experience in the Center for Student Success has been one of the best experiences of my life. I find myself being so connected to my job and everyone there. I absolutely love the work I'm doing and I am really sad to leave. This position has helped me determine what kind of work I am really passionate about and it is because of this that I am very grateful for this experience.

My academic experience has been extremely rewarding and challenging. Taking 550 was one of the biggest hurdles for me because it was so unlike anything I had ever taken before. I can't really say the class changed my life or anything, but I did enjoy the experience. The majority of classes greatly contributed to my learning and I could see how they would apply to my work in higher education. I am glad I took the classes that I took, especially taking the opportunity of the international experience in Qatar. The numerous opportunities for reflection took some getting used to, but in the end I really valued it. I would not change anything about my academic experience.

My social experience at USD has definitely been a roller coaster. However, I am now happy with the relationships and friendships that I've built. Eventually I realized that I had to put myself out there to create relationships with classmates and because of this I have made friendships that I know will last a lifetime. It may only be a few real friendships I've created, but these few hold a very special place in my heart. I do have to say that it took me a long time to get to a place where I was happy with this aspect of my experience at USD, but I am glad to be at this place. Although it would be easy for me to wish I could change my bumps in my social experience, but all parts of my experience contributed to the person I am today.

When I first answered the question, I said "For the most part..." which means there are parts of my experience I would change. Actually there is only one thing I wish I could change. I wish I would have come in more open minded about connecting to the institution. Coming straight out of undergrad was kind of a disadvantage to me in this respect. When I graduated from La Verne in 2009 I was legitimately sad to leave. I was not ready to leave everything I had created at La Verne. Since I was still so connected to La Verne, I came to USD not really looking to connect to the university. In my mind, it was just a place for me to get a Masters degree and gain some professional experience. I was not interested in anything beyond that. It actually wasn't until this semester during seminar when we were having a check-in and some of my classmates were talking about how much they were going to miss being at USD. I took some time to reflect on this because I realized that I was not that sad to leave. I have not had any bad experiences here that would make me want to leave. I knew I was going to be sad to leave my office because I feel so connected to everyone there, but I don't really feel any emotion either way about leaving USD. As I reflected on it, I realized it was because of the frame of mind I came in with. I realize there is nothing I can do about it now, but I do wonder about my next institution. Will I be able to go in with an open mind and create a connection to the institution? This is something that I am really sitting with and I am hopeful that since I've acknowledged and realized this now, I will be able to connect to my next institution.

Overall, I am so glad I had this experience and I am very much looking forward to see what my future holds me. Thank you to everyone who contributed to my experience at USD! I could not have done it without you all!

Goodbye to USD and SOLES!