Before I began in Student Affairs, I debated for a little while if it was really my calling. I went back and forth between it and Public Health for a little while, but I finally landed on Student Affairs. I went from being an #SAGrad to an #SAPro a little over a year ago. Some days at work, I still think, "is this really for me?" (Mostly, the answer is yes.)
But this last weekend, I attended the NODA (the National Orientation Directors Association - they focus on Orientation, Transition, and Retention programming) Conference for my region. I took our 8 executive board student members with two of our other professional advisors for orientation programming. I was able to watch my students connect with others, learn a lot, and return to our university passionate with ideas to make a change. It was a lovely thing to see.
More importantly, for me, I felt the click of "this is right where I should be!" I went to a session that overwhelmed me with a feeling of confidence. It was one in which we were able to give feedback on NODA's competencies. Apparently a team has been working on writing them for 2 years, and they're finally unveiling them for feedback from wonderfully impactful people in our field and to little people, like me! After reading through the competencies, which are broken down into areas and then levels of Basic, Intermediate, and Advanced, I felt really good about my place. With only a single year of full-time professional experience, I felt very firm in my roots in the Basic competencies. There are some areas which need more work, but overall, I'm good.
Just prior to this session, I text my mentor and friend, Emily, and asked her when I would stop feeling like an imposter. Sometimes I suffer from Imposter Syndrome and think I'll never be good enough. But with her positive response and this session, I realized, I'll grow into it. And that is a very lovely feeling.
