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Learning Outcome Narrative: Strengths

Students and Self
Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; Artifacts A, B, C, D, E, F, G
Introduction
The more I learn, the more I do not know. This is the cycle I have found myself in as I am

reaching the end of the SDA program. I came into the program with years of doing social justice

work through cultural centers. The knowledge, experience, and skills in that functional area

became more refined through my graduate assistantship with Seattle Us Office of Multicultural

Affairs (OMA) (Artifact A). I found myself weaving social justice in nearly everything I was a

part of, from being in the classroom to my internship experiences (Artifact B). Thinking about

my strengths, many have come from within myself, but have been shaped and defined by my

time with OMA, internships, coursework, and mentors. Ive realized an integrating theme of my

strengths is Students and Self, with the three unique areas being 1) a commitment to social

justice, 2) research and assessment, 3) and having a students first approach.

Commitment to Social Justice

Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Artifacts A, B, E, G
My commitment to social justice has always been a part of me, and is mostly influenced

by the identities I hold. Before college, I was engaged in activism work with my family in the

capacity of pro-immigrant, pro-Muslim, and pro-Palestinian rights. When I started college, I

sought out opportunities to engage in activism efforts with the LGBTQ and students of color

communities (Artifact A). Through the SDA program and everything Ive been able to be a part

of because of it, such as OMA, internships, and coursework, I was able to learn how to apply that

social justice commitment in the student affairs practitioner capacity (LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6; Artifact

B, E, G). Through my coursework, specifically SDAD 5300: Foundations of the Student Affairs

Profession, I was able to articulate that even though I went to a predominantly white institution, I

was still able to grow into myself and thrive when I realized my culture had capital (Yosso,
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2005). I strive to uplift our marginalized students today who might be struggling with similar

challenges. I also learned more about the Critical Race Theory framework (Delgado & Stefancic,

2001) in my coursework, and how to articulately name the pervasiveness of racism in our

society, but more relevantly in Seattle and on campus.

Reflecting on my graduate assistantship with OMA, it has been quite a turbulent journey,

which is just smoothing out now as I understand the nature of the institution and OMAs place

within it. However, our positionality in OMA is getting shaken and tested as we try to respond to

the new political administration (LO 5). All of the staffs commitments to social justice has

become much more immediate; mine included. How would we respond when the student

government president resigns to do more effective work with his undocumented communities?

How would we respond when the president passes an executive order that bans travel to and

from predominantly Muslim countries?

The answer, I realized, ties back to another strength of mine that Im highlighting: the

students first approach. My social justice commitment in this moment goes beyond myself, even

though I hold identities that are being targeted and affected at this time. Our social justice

commitment shows by listening to our students, listening to their worries and fears, and by

helping them learn their rights. This manifests in small ways such as creating space for dialogue

for students to process their thoughts, and larger ways such as facilitating a #BlackLivesMatter

Immersion to Olympia, WA to advocate during African American Legislative Day (Artifact G),

and inviting Cuc Vu from Seattles immigration office to speak on the rights of immigrants and

interrogating what it means to be a sanctuary city, and potentially being a sanctuary campus.

Research and Assessment

Learning Outcomes 2, 5, 6, 7, 8; Artifacts A, C1
I had zero experience when it came to conducting research and assessment before I

started the SDA programthat is, research where Im collecting data from actual people rather
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than literature and online sources. I knew I should gain that experience when I had the

opportunity to, especially since I have the hopes of completing a doctorate degree in the future.
It seems that fate, the universe, etc. had plans for me as well regarding gaining

assessment experience. Right around the end of winter quarter and early spring quarter of my

first year, assessment started flying towards me from all over. From my assistantship with OMA,

we wanted to conduct assessment on our student lounge spaces. My counterpart Eva Long and I

put together a survey, but it was the first survey either of us tried to write, and it was

unintentionally extremely biased. We didnt know how to write survey questions properly!

Czarina Ramsay, our OMA director, started guiding us in the right direction, but then we also

were presented with the opportunity to go through the Assessment Certification Program

facilitated by Dr. Tim Wilson and the Divisional Assessment Working Group (DAWG). DAWG

provided a great start in teaching us the skills to write survey questions and conduct assessment

(LO 7). The biggest challenge for me was yet to come: my research project to earn the M.A. in

Student Development Administration rather than the M.Ed.

Like previously mentioned, I wanted something concrete to have in order to show my

research and assessment experience and skills for a future doctorate program. The M.A. research

project was optional for the SDA program: a challenge by choice, as Dr. Erica Yamamura, our

M.A. project guide and SDA faculty member, put it, and challenge it I did. I was assigned the

topic of Diversity Assessment in Higher Education. I was to interview campus stakeholders in

diversity and assessment to capture their knowledge and experience about what diversity

assessment means, what it logistically looks like, and what a potential SDA course on it could

look like. I meticulously crafted the questions, interviewed the four campus stakeholders,

painfully transcribed each interview, coded the transcripts, and wrote the research paper with my
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findings (LO 7, 8; Artifact C1). I gained the most assessment knowledge and skills with this

research project.
After my feat with the research project, I was able to apply my assessment skills more

with my internships. With my first internship at Seattle Central Colleges TRIO (Artifact A), I

conducted two focus groups, a total of fourteen students, regarding their experience as TRIO

students. Along with looking at paper survey responses, I compiled both the qualitative and

quantitative data into written reports, which help inform the TRIO staffs practice (LO 6, 7, 8).

Furthermore, in my final internship at University of Washingtons Q Center, their LGBTQ

resource center (Artifact A), I drew from my previous assessment experience and skills helped

them start normalizing the cycle of assessment by creating a survey for one of their dialogue

series (LO 2, 5, 6, 7).

Students First Approach

Learning Outcomes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10; Artifacts B, C2, D)
I learned the phrasing Students First from my TRIO internship site supervisor, Ariana

Cantu (Artifact D). SDA has a similar term, students centered, but Ive adopted students first

because it feels more direct: students are the priority. Before even knowing the implications and

the complexities of having a students first approach, I remember my first time putting that

mindset into practice.

In the very beginning of my time with OMA, I was disappointed at the lack of student

engagement with our office. I came from my undergrad institution that had thriving, bustling

cultural centers, and I was expecting OMA to be the same. When that wasnt the case, I thought

the simplest explanation was that students didnt know OMA was a space for them, and that is

because we did not have a rainbow flag in plain sight as a beacon. I advocated and advocated for

the flagmaybe not in the best ways because I was still learning how to operate within the

system, and have said and done certain things that I could have been fired for if I was a full time
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professional. However, I was doing it for the students (Artifact B). I wanted to create a safe,

communal space for marginalized students at Seattle U like I had as an undergrad.

The rainbow flag is up now. Its not in the window like I imagined, but its a start. It took

a Trump election to get the flag up. This served as a lesson for me in terms of how to learn a

system, adapt to the system, and effectively advocate in the professional higher education realm

within that system (LO 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 10). Our office as a whole is taking a more students first

approach as well during this time of the new administration, including collaboration with

Natasha Martin, Seattle Us Chief Diversity Officer, to be as effective as we can for the campus

community (LO 9, Artifact C2).

I continue to have the students first approach with my work in OMA, incorporating the

takeaways Ive learned from the flag incident (LO 10). I also continue reflecting on my

internship experience with TRIO at Seattle Central College, which is were I see the students first

approach utilized the most, and reflect on how I can use their students first methods in my

practice.

Conclusion
As I write this, reflecting on my strengths, I think it evident that my social justice mindset

is weaved throughout (Artifact B), along with my utmost care and passion for the wellbeing of

students, particularly those who hold marginalized identities. In the utmost honesty, I am

extremely nervous starting my professional career during the current political climate and

administration. Hopefully, if I continue my commitment to social justice in the higher education

setting by having the students first approach and using data from research and assessment to

inform my practice, I will continue finding strength in myself, in my students, and in the work.
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References

Delgado, R., & Stefancic, J. (2001). Critical race theory: An introduction. New York: New York

University Press.

Yosso, T.J. (2005). Whose culture has capital? A critical race discussion of community cultural

wealth. Race Ethnicity and Education, 8(1), 69-82.