My definition of the personal reflection is a state of self-awareness that helps us understand one’s life experiences and actions. It’s the courage and ability to look back into our past and honestly assess our personal values and beliefs through past experiences and decisions that have made and shaped us into who we are today. I have never had the opportunity to practice reflective writing in previous coursework and this is a new experience and challenging skill for me to develop.

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As I look back for a defining moment in my life, I find numerous circumstances where I made life-changing decisions that shaped me and took me to where I am today. A clear example is a time I decided to migrate to a new country and culture about 20 years ago seeking further education and career opportunities and leaving my home country (Ecuador) behind. My next major defining moment was becoming a wife and ultimately 10 years later becoming a mother, which is one of the most wonderful blissful experiences and most rewarding decisions ever made. But, for the purpose of this assignment, I will focus my attention on my most recent defining moment, when I realized that I wanted to pursue my master’s degree in higher education for my career field of development.

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After over 15 years of working and serving at a higher educational institution, but particularly after taking over my current role for the past two years at the college as an Assistant to the Director for the Honors Program, I suddenly came to the realization of my true career calling. Throughout this position, I discovered how much I enjoy serving, inspiring and helping students to set clear career goals and find true fulfillment and success through their academic accomplishments. To be able to touch and affect other people’s lives with my work is extremely rewarding, it has given me a deeper purpose in life and makes me feel accomplished in my career.

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Regretfully, this realization came through a series of challenges and professional ethical issues that triggered the present outcome. When I took this position, it initially was to assist the Honors Director with her duties. Little did I know, I was embarking upon the most challenging and learning experience of my life. The newly appointed Director had some deviated professional work ethics, habits, and values that soon enough will impact the services to be provided to students. In the course of the two years, I had to endure learning as fast as I could on my own, with little guidance to handle the Directors’ responsibilities as well as my own. The current Director’s lack of physical presence and availability to see and guide students, forced me to fill in the gaps.

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The Vice President of Academic affairs was made aware of the situation during the first six months of my taking the position, but since he saw that I fulfilled all the needs of the department by myself, he didn’t take any actions to address the situation. I was working over 50 hours a week with no extra compensation or professional recognition. Although, the labor had been intense, for the first year I enjoyed the learning process and didn’t mind the rough lessons. But, by the second year, I was already feeling burnt out. I raised the issue again with the VP looking for help, regretfully I was told that even though I was capable of doing the work, I had no actual credentials to be formally given the job. But, since I was already filling in the gap all this time, I should continue to perform the duties until they figure out what to do with the current Director. At this point, I was filled with mixed emotions that inundated my thoughts with despair, demoralization, and devalued my hard work. It was tough to realize that regardless of the extensive experience I had in the higher education field and my abilities to perform the position, I couldn’t get any promotion or extra recognition due to the lack of credentials.

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There it was my personal defining moment. Although I felt demoralized, at the same time I felt empowered. I chose to analyze my situation more introspectively and sought in this situation the motivation that will ignite my fire again to move forward onto the next chapter of my career. Thankfully, I was able to see through the challenge an opportunity lying in front of me and make the decision to further prepare myself academically to shape my future career path. I realized that in order to be valued as an employee, to be given an opportunity, to advance into a mid-level administrator position and to further my career in the education field, I had to complete my master’s degree. I understood that furthering my education will not just be beneficial for my professional and career development, but also my personal development. My main goal was to obtain the credential credibility to help build opportunities and serve as a qualified professional, either as an Academic Advisor or Guidance Counselor for the college student body, as well as become a successful practitioner in a variety of administrative functions.

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It is important for me to attain my graduate degree for several reasons, first because I’ll be the first one in my family to earn a graduate degree. Second, it will make me feel accomplished in my educational and career path. Third, it will provide me the tools and opportunities to move forward in the career field I chose and be able to guide others to achieve their dreams, as well. I’m also aware that when I made this decision, I was willing to make some sacrifices, such as giving up sleep in order to not to take time away from my child, especially after working all day. I was willing to compromise my weekends and summertime in return for knowledge. But, I made the commitment to not compromising my actual health in the process. Initially, I was overly eager to take two courses at the same time, in between my other responsibilities in order to finish my degree in a shorter time span. But I realized that keeping a steady pace is more important than racing and trying to take on more than what I can handle. In other words, I’m not willing to compromise the quality of my learning experience for the quantity of courses taken to finish faster.

REFINING MOMENT REFLECTION

My defining moment was about three years ago when I realized that I wanted to pursue my master’s degree in higher education as an addendum to my career field of development. After over 15-years of working in higher education, I realized how much I enjoy serving, inspiring, and helping students to set clear career goals and find true fulfillment and success through their academic accomplishments. It also became clear to me that regardless of the extensive experience I had in the higher education field, despite the abilities acquired to perform many different positions, to be valued as an employee, to be given an opportunity to advance into a mid-level administrator position, and to further my career in the education field, I had to complete my master’s degree. I understood that furthering my education will not just be beneficial for my professional and career development, but also for my personal development. My main goal was to obtain an educational master’s degree with the credibility to help further build opportunities and serve as a qualified professional, either as an Academic Advisor or Guidance Counselor for the college student body, as well as become a successful practitioner in a variety of administrative functions.

Now, thinking more introspectively about all I have done in my classes as part of the M.Ed., as well as my professional life during these past months and years, the study of higher education has helped me ignite my fire to move forward onto the next chapter of my career helping me grasp my refining moment. The M.Ed. has given me diverse insights about the history of higher education helping me understand how the world of higher education has shaped into what it is today. It has also expanded my understanding of numerous theories and concepts that exist in higher education. I have learned a great deal about the importance and prime role that Institutional Research and Assessment plays in higher education in order to make better-informed decisions while providing insights into many different programs, school structures, as well as various aspects of the institution. The various extensive projects, assignments, and teacher-student interactions have also helped me understand how essential it is for administrators to be familiar, informed, and well-rounded in retrieving and interpreting diverse data to be an effective leader. Every course taken has provided a deeper learning experience, whether it was about student affairs, academic advising, evaluation of academic programs, administration of higher education, enrollment management, plan and resource management, or the legal issues that have shaped higher education into what it is today. I am confident that I have been prepared with the required knowledge to assist in expanding my personal and professional development, stay up-to-date with technology, express thoughts more clearly, understand and explain abstract concepts and theories, and gained an increase the understanding of higher education and our communities. I also feel more confident, not just in my ability to impact change as a higher education professional, but also on how to better serve our student community, thanks to the theories learned on student development and college student success.

What has made me stop and think is that in this program, I have been able to discover and access different opportunities available in the field of higher education. I am grateful for the knowledge gathered in different areas, as my M.Ed. studies opened a number of doors allowing me to join essential institutional committees such as the Strategic Planning, the Assessment Scholarship Awards, and the Judicial Board, to name a few. The program has also given me the opportunity to collaborate in the development of new initiatives involving learning communities geared to further student success, developed rubrics, and equipped me with the necessary tools to bring insight on projects and planning for future programs in various institutional decision-making ideas. In addition, as of September 2019, my M.Ed. in Higher Education is also providing me the opportunity to start teaching “Intro to College Experience” and “Student Success” courses as an Adjunct Instructor. Overall, the study of higher education has given me insights into broader aspects in the field, as well as revealed numerous paths and ways to fulfill my personal mission of leading by example while serving and inspiring others to realize their full potential. I will continue to pursue the next opportunity to see where it will lead me, as I found it extremely rewarding to be able to touch and affect peoples’ lives with my input, giving me a deeper purpose in life and bringing me a sense of accomplishment in my career.

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                                                              ACORNEJO-HIED-596-Infographic-Refining Moment Reflection

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