New year, new blog URL!

Thanks for checking out my blog!  I’ve been working over the past months to move all of my old content (and adding new) to my shiny new blog at www.brianfleduc.com. That’s where you’ll find my latest content, and the latest reflections of my experiences. Again, thanks for reading, and I hope you’ll check out the new site!

Developing Development

This week I had perhaps one of the greatest moments of conscious personal growth then I have experienced in quite some time.  Even more ironically, it had occurred weeks before on a cognitive level; but the ‘ah-ha feeling’ of development hit me like a rush that made me realize how much I have missed it.

The past few months I have been challenged by the formation and early development of a staff, understanding campus and department culture, keeping up with reading and discussions within the classroom, and maintaining (truthfully, developing) a social and ‘personal’ life in a new place.  But these areas haven’t been the hardest part of my transition.

When I got started in my graduate experience, I felt ‘stuck’ almost immediately.  All of a sudden I was making professional decisions, second guessing how they fit within my professional life and my personal values, and wondering ‘what the process’ should be exploring these ideas.  I quietly became impatient and frustrated with how I could be expected to create such standards with so little information.  Looking back, it just came down to being overwhelmed, and hyper-aware of the intentionality in my decisions, and intending to make sure that I didn’t overstep boundaries or set up trends that would effect me negatively later in my experience.

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Words to Live By…

When you think of #SAchat, what do you think of? Friends? Colleagues? An instant system of support? A community that understands and relates to the frustration, challenges, inspiration, and success that you encounter in the smallest contributions of students, or in navigating the process of adjusting your career path?

Exactly. Reflecting on #SAchat’s impact on me as a student leader transitioning into a graduate student and developing myself as a new professional, it’s difficult to think about what I did without it. The encouragement, support, and relationships that I have started and continue to develop through this community are truly amazing.

I’ve received advice & support about my transition into the field, resources from professionals for presentations, opportunities to blog about my experiences and connections with amazing people. I’ve discovered students like myself interested (or pursuing) careers in student affairs, and developed a continuous conversation and network of role models. I’ve found a window to the profession and all the resources it has to offer, along with the inspiration to pursue communities that share common interests and values as my own.

Like so many others, in my ignorance and hesitancy to create an account, I hated Twitter. Now, a true #SAchat junkie, I find myself looking at the transcripts, blogs, resources, and presentations that make this community so vibrant.

There is something so significant in any tool that provides support, discourse and topics that challenge you to progress as a person. I think as a community of Student Affairs professionals, there is a collective agreement regarding that pursuit; for many of us, it is the motivation for our interest and passion for the field.

As a community, #SAchat has provided me the opportunity to think critically about who I am, who I hope to develop into, and the discrepancies involved in that process. It is the mirror that I hold to myself in measuring growth as a professional. Perhaps even more significant, it allows for that growth to happen at my own pace, and from my own perspective and voice; all while the community continues to develop its roots and provide feedback or encouragement (or both).

I know that without so many of you, I would not have discovered as much about who I am becoming as a professional (or what I want to be), what is important to me (and how to make sure it stays that way), or how to navigate my personal journey of growth (in what questions to ask). Worse, I would have fewer fantastic phone calls, e-mails, faxes, candy, and motivation.

Thank you Debra and Tom for the ‘seed’ as you so humbly call it, that continues to feed my passion for this field and reinforce its significance to me everyday.

Happy One Year Anniversary, #SAchat. Tweet on.