Practicum Reflection

A practicum experience is an opportunity for one to put the skills, knowledge,

and theories learned over a course of study, into use, with the hopes of gathering

further knowledge from their practical application. For my practicum experience, I

undertook three major projects within my current role as a financial aid counselor at

Winona State University. As a test and application of my burgeoning educational

leadership skills, I undertook the development and implementation of a

comprehensive financial literacy program, held open office hours in the university

inclusion and diversity area, and finally, participated as a member of a hiring

committee for a position within my current department. Each of these experiences

helped me to build on, and implement, the skills that I have been honing over the

course of this program.

As part of Winona State Universitys charting the future initiative, one such

aspect of improvement that the university will seek to improve upon is the financial

preparedness of its graduates. Sadly, it is all too common for current college

students, and even recent graduates, to fall into the many financial pitfalls.

Strapped with large amounts of debt, and lacking little practical experience with

money management, todays graduates are in need of greater financial education.

The responsibility of formulating and implementing such a comprehensive financial

literacy program at WSU has fallen upon me.

Throughout my practicum experience, I devoted several hours per week to

the creation, implementation, and review of our financial literacy programming.

Beginning in the early stages of the programs development, I called upon several

of the skills introduced throughout my course of study, as well as the Minnesota

Core Leadership Competencies. In this process, I saw through the visionary, goal
setting, planning, and implementation stages of the financial literacy programming

while consulting numerous stakeholder groups across campus, meeting competency

A. Leadership. Further, I was able to identify and respond to student needs as

evidenced through the interpreting of survey data. Our programming utilized

quantitative and qualitative feedback and data to evaluate program effectiveness,

ultimately effecting future decision making which met competency B. Organizational

Management and I. Instructional Management for the Success of All Learners.

Finally, this programming also required that I develop priorities and allocate limited

resources in my program budget, which is paramount to the success of the program

and meets competency B. Organizational Management.

The next major project that I endeavored upon during my practicum

experience was to serve as my departments representative in the WSU campus

KEAP Center. KEAP stands for Knowledge, Empowerment, Advocacy, and Pluralism

and is operated in coordination with WSUs Inclusion and Diversity Office. Seeking

to establish a stronger relationship with the KEAP Center, our department sought to

better serve the students of the KEAP Center by holding regularly scheduled office

hours in the Center. Each week, I would spend at least two hours in the KEAP

Center, looking to build rapport and better serve this student body. Activities that

occurred during my time in the KEAP Center ranged from answering simple student

questions regarding financial aid eligibility, summer aid, and registration holds to

much more deep conversational sessions. Often, students who frequent the KEAP

Center are our campus communitys least served population. It was clear that this

semester, recent political events greatly had an effect on many of these students.

Several times, I played the role of being an active listener as students voiced their

concerns, not only with the direction of our country, but also our campus as a
whole. Through my time in the KEAP Center, I feel that I called upon more of the

Core Leadership Competencies than any other experience. Ranging from C.

Diversity Leadership to E. Political Influence, my time spent interacting and assisting

the students in the KEAP Center was truly enlightening.

Finally, my experience in serving my department as a member of a search

committee gave me first hand work at implementing a number of additional

Minnesota Core Leadership Competencies. Within my department of Financial Aid

at WSU, I serve as a representative of our larger student services office known as

the Warrior Hub. The Hub consists of all of WSUs integrated student services

offices all under one roof, where employees are cross trained to operate in many

different arenas. As a result, I found it important to serve the Warrior Hub by

volunteering to be a member of a search committee for the open position of

Assistant Registrar. This experience ranged in activities from routine review of

resumes, cover letters, and transcripts, to more complex evaluations of interview

responses and ultimately making a hiring recommendation. Additionally, navigating

the intricate hiring protocol established by the State of Minnesota and Minnesota

State Colleges and Universities, proved valuable in learning the complex

relationship between education and law. What further made the search committee

experience enlightening from an educational leadership standpoint is that two of my

direct supervisors, serving as departmental directors, also served on the committee,

providing me with a seasoned model of leadership to emulate. Throughout my time

as a member of the hiring committee, I called upon several Core Leadership

Competencies such as D. Policy and Law, F. Communication, J. Human Resource

Management, and L. Judgment and Problem Analysis.

 Completing the three major tasks outlined above: developing a

comprehensive financial literacy program, holding office hours in the KEAP Center,

and serving as a member of a hiring committee; allowed me to develop and hone

my skills as an educational leader. As I worked to meet the guidelines of effective

educational leaders, as established by the Minnesota Core Leadership

Competencies, I not only grew as a professional, but also as a person. The

experiences and conversations had with underserved students, colleagues, and new

acquaintances provide me with an excellent practical implementation of the skills

and knowledge learned throughout my course of study.