It was a long road that led me to where I am today, sitting at my laptop, typing up assignment after assignment for my Master's degree in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration. Beset with many a twist and turn, I landed here ultimately due to one thing, and that thing was to finally practice what I had been preaching all along.
My career in higher education started when I was still an undergraduate student at UB. I was working in the stacks at the library one day, and the next, I was coordinating projects and schedules, holding trainings, managing time sheets, and paperwork, attending meetings, and regularly acting as a liaison between my staff and our supervisors. 15 years later, I have been doing all of that and more throughout my many roles within many institutions of higher education. What I realized though over the years was that the more I supported my students to go on and succeed, to follow their dreams and work hard, the less I was considering following my own.
I had had a few false starts at Master's degrees over the years, and I had decided long ago that I was done trying. I was too old, and too established to go back to the student life. The funny thing is that it took a student telling me to follow my own dreams for me to take a step back and realize the the advice that I so freely handed out to anyone seeking it, was not the advice that I had given to myself. So, with the support of a very wonderful significant other, we figured out a way for me to do just that. I started to tell myself "you're never too old!" just like I would tell my adult learners. I started saying "you can do it!" just like I would tell my students struggling through hard classes, and I started to reach out to people for help, just like I told my students to do when they were in need.
Although I had considered many topics of interest for my Master's degree (including but not limited to TESOL, Library Studies, and Audiology of all things), it took a moment for me to sit down and really get to a Master's in Higher Education, despite it being directly in my face the entire time. Thankfully, I not only got to that decision, but I also, very fortunately, landed at Buff State which has been nothing short of amazing.
I came back to school for a lot of reasons but I think that first and foremost I really just needed the perspective of what being a student looks like in the current era. I was a student in a different time. Technology was barely a thing in my time! Okay, that's probably an exaggeration, but the rate of which technology has changed, or rather erupted, has completely changed the landscape in which current students learn. I have been out of touch with those changes, and that makes it difficult to connect with students and understand their struggles. Getting back in touch is a true goal of my time as a student. In addition to that though, is just the general need for a higher level degree. I think that what comes with this degree specifically, is the history and the theories that guide my profession as a student affairs and higher education administrator. These are things that are not learned on the job, but rather form the actual foundation, and they are not things that I have any experience with prior to coming back to school.
Another reason that I am back at school ties in with the idea of lifelong learning. I have never stopped being a learner informally. I attend tons of workshops, symposiums, certificate programs, trainings, etc., and love every single one of them for different reasons. I love to learn. I love staying fresh and growing and never settling for what it is that I think I know. Getting a Master's degree is the formal way in which I can keep up this learning. I never thought that I would come back, but now that I am here, I am evning toying with the idea of going on for my PhD. It seems crazy to me, unattainable even, but up until about 6 months ago, so too did the idea of a Master's!
I think that in this next year and a half, I will do my best to continue being immersed in the life of a student by taking advantage of every possible educational and professional opportunity while I have the chance. Although I think that I did a great job doing so as a full-time professional, I have more time now working part-time as a Graduate Assistant, and I want to be sure that that time is not wasted. I feel that informal learning is equally as important to formal learning during this time, and for the remainder of my life.
Cheers,
Brianna
