Passion runs deep

Isn't it great when you find your passion in life? Your calling? I know I've found mine within the world of Student Affairs and with each new experience I gain under my belt, I love it more and more. I love my students, I love retreats (ESPECIALLY when they're over and I can look back on them. I'm not a roughing it kind of girl, but a good weekend long retreat here and there is always good). And I love conferences where students come together and further their interests!

We held the C&OR Conference on Saturday and because it is hosted by my office, my supervisor asked that I present one (or more) workshops. I chose to lead a workshop on Diversity Awareness within Campus and your Organization and I also lead a Forum for Black Clubs & Orgs. This was my true area of stress - I didn't know if any of the Black/African American student leaders would show up, find it useful, participate, engage, or stay in the forum for that matter. My supervisor was supposed to join me and stay for moral support, but ended up not being able to break away from prepping for her own workshop, so I was on my own.....and LOVED IT! The students sat in a circle and I'd written my four discussion points on butcher paper around the room. I asked everyone to gravitate to the discussion point they were most drawn to and just write. This was perfect in allowing us to facilitate discussion. EVERYONE shared, contributed, acknowledged one another, waited their turn, agreed or disagreed respectfully, and fed off of one another's engergy. Of course 50 minutes in not enough for student leaders to diagnose what they feel to be their biggest challeneges, let alone resolve them together, and that was the biggest dissapointment of the workshop.

The best part was afterwards - reading my presenter evaluations! Everyone wanted more, more time, more forums, more togetherness and opportunities to bridge gaps within their community of Black student leaders. It was amazing. From the best part stems the next part - that I've been given the go-ahead by my department to host a Black Clubs and Orgs Forum monthly to help these student leaders bridge their gaps, facilitate discussion and provide opportunities for networking and collaborative programming. I sent the email out yesterday letting those in attendance know and I've been getting awesome feedback from the students! It's awesome.

This is how I know I've found my passion and it runs deep. Here I am, a 2nd year grad student who literally, could not and should not be squeezing ONE MORE THING onto my plate, but I dont even care. I want to do this for these students and fill this void. I love it.