Student Development: A Two Way Road

When you think about it- Student Development is really a core part of the purpose of SLA: to facilitate a group activity.

But why do we have these activities? To fulfill the need of our fellow 40,000+ undergraduate peers. They are at our facilitations to learn or to experience something- we're not there to create hot air (although I'm pretty good at that...) but instead we're there to help them create positive change within their organization.

That's right... help THEM create the positive change.

We can't "fix" their student orgs for them. We can only give them the tools to empower them to do it themselves. Evans wrote that the importance of development at a collegiate level is "so that all aspects of the student's life are attended to and the environmental resources both challenge the student and give the support needed to meet these challenges so that more advanced levels of development result"


As SLA's, WE are there to give them the support needed to meet the challenges. WE address their needs from a student org point of view, which in turn provides them with applicable skills that they can use for the rest of their life. Leadership is about empowering others to meet their full potential. By providing facilitations, we provide our peers with these skills by empowering them to change their organizations (or by learning basic skills such as getting to know others, team building, etc.)

But what about us? Great question! You must have read and understood the title of the blog...


Well WE TOO get something out of facilitating. Why else would we be giving up our time to donate to help other people solve their own problems? I mean... I'm a busy guy and I could easily use that time to socialize or... I guess study? (and by study I mean go on facebook until I realize I'm not being productive and then probably make a few note cards and call it a night- how do I have such a high gpa?)


I think the most profound thing that I got out of from the reading came from Roger Schwarz's article where he said: 


"Through facilitating groups, you can also come to know yourself by reflecting on how you react to certain situations, understanding the sources of your feelings, and learning how to work with your feelings productively"


This self awareness has DEFINITELY come in handy for me- I've noticed that during my own student development my self-reflection skills or my publishing, processing, generalizing, and applying experiences of my learning cycle have started to fully form. I have started to ask myself: "Is this making me happy?" "Why am I doing this?" "Could my time be of better use doing something else?" These questions have created a MUCH more emotionally stable person, improved the experience of my involvement, and will hopefully lead to a happier life as a student in college (and hopefully as a human being after attaining my diploma(s))


As a SLA, Ambassador, and Teaching Assistant, I have become a more emotionally intelligent person, helping to aid my interpersonal skills. I function much better in a group now that I can sense how people think and how I can be more effective in communicating with them- skills that have helped me in my orgs and I KNOW will help me later in life.


So I guess this "student development" thing is really a give-and-take... or I guess a give-and-give where both those being facilitated are taking away lessons to be utilized as a part of their development, and as facilitators who are learning to become more in tune with their interactions with others.


And that is why I am thankful that I am an SLA!