My Personal Accomplishment

I just got some really exciting news at work the other day and I can’t help but blog about it. One of the major projects I’ve been working on for the past couple of months is a survey for the Commuter Program. We have actually been talking about doing something like this since last semester but for whatever reason we weren’t able to do it then. At the beginning of this semester Daniella told me that this was a project that we really wanted to get done so she asked me if I would be comfortable putting the survey together. Of course I said yes even though I didn’t even really know what to put on the survey. I had a lot of help from Daniella and within a month of being asked to do it, the survey was in the Commuter Center for students to take. Once students were finished taking the survey, we had our Administrative Assistant insert the answers into Student Voice.

This survey is really important to us because we are currently trying to make the Commuter Center a permanent space on campus and we knew that this survey would provide a lot of good data for that process. The survey was put out before Spring Break and I am currently in the process of analyzing the data and putting the open ended questions into themes. I must say I have the experience of analyzing my action research data to thank in this process because I feel I have a pretty good understanding of how to form themes and use quotes from the students.

Now that I’ve explained the project I have to tell the good news. A few days ago a received an email from our representative from Student Voice asking us if we would be willing to “share” the survey on the Student Voice website. What this means is that all universities who use Student Voice will have access to our survey (not the data) so they can have an idea how to create a survey such as ours. According to the Student Voice representative a lot of universities are looking to create a survey similar to ours and he felt these universities could benefit from seeing ours as a starting point.

When I saw this email I got so excited I ran into Daniella’s office to tell her. She was really excited too and as I walked away she said to me, “Congratualtions!” That was when it really hit that this is a big accomplishment for me!! I was the one who took the lead on this survey and put it together and I was being recognized for it. I can’t say I did this all on my own because I definitely did not. I went to Daniella, Merrick, and Stephanie for feedback and input on the survey, but the fact that I was the one who was in charge of putting this never before done survey together made me feel like this was definitely a personal accomplishment for me.

As I am reflecting on this exciting news I am thinking back to one of the first blogs I wrote earlier this year about making an impact. I talked about how I was told that every GA is known for leaving their mark in some way in our office. I do feel like I’ve done a lot of work and made an impact at work with the different things I’ve done, but I’ve never felt as proud as I did when I saw that email. I honestly feel like this survey is my mark. This is what I’m going to be remembered for. I understand the survey might change slightly and the questions might be adjusted, but I will be the one who started it and I will always remember the recognition I received for it. I was even thinking about a possible interview question of “Tell me about your proudest accomplishment” and I know this is my proudest accomplishment to date. I now feel like I can leave my role as the Graduate Assistant in the Center for Student Success feeling like I’ve made an impact and that I will be remembered. This is an amazing feeling and I am so glad I have reached this place in my career as a Graduate Assistant.