My Job through Pictures

My job is kind of hard to describe to people, so I am going to do my best to do that and add some fun pictures to go along with it.  My job title is Graduate Assistant for the First Year Involvement (FYI) Resource Center, which is through the Office of Residence Life (ORL).  The best things about my job:

• Every day is different, but a few things stay the same (thats me:  love for changing things but also having structure)
• I have an office.  This may seem weird to most people, but in my last job I carried my office with me most of the day.
• My job has the perfect balance of administrative things (planning, emails, meetings) and student/staff interaction and development.
• I get to plan campus-wide events like the Clothesline Project (JMU CLP), Alcohol Awareness Week, and Recognition Celebration (end of year celebration for ORL).  Planning these events means that I get to pull out my beanie babies ( a collection over 100) for a 90's theme rec cel:

• I get to work with very creative students!  The 8 women I supervise are program advisers (PAs) meaning that they assist ORL staff with all of their programming needs:  advertising, plans, ideas, bulletin boards, consultation, etc.  They also help me plan the campus events I mentioned and add so much more to them that I could on my own.

• I get to have fun!  I work with great people and they know me very well.  Hence my superlative:

• Speaking of fun and creative...some days I get to just work on posters....and glitter, glue, etc.  I never leave the office without a little bit of glitter on me :)

• Did I mention how creative and talented they are?

• Each week I spend a lot of my time in one on one meetings with the PAs.  I meet with each of them twice a month and it is by far my favorite part of the job!  Yes, we talk about FYI but we also talk about life!  I also run weekly staff meetings and even though we need to get work done, we still have a good time doing it.

Maddie (left) and Ansley

Carly

Keely

Kelsey (left) and Claire (right)

Katie

Rec Cel Coordinators:  Alexa (left) and Claire (right)

All the PAs + my supervisor and me!

• I laugh every day because of things like this..

• My supervisor and other GA (Cody) are also pretty great.  Kristin teaches me a lot about healthy eating, working out, and just life in general.  Cody teaches me about funny youtube videos, things that I should have learned as a freshman in college like how to register for classes on time, and good recipes.  I will miss working next to him as he is taking a different assistantship next year.

My supervisor, Kristin

• I get to do all the selection and training of the PAs each year.  Next year we have 4 people returning and 4 new folks!  It is hard to imagine a team better than what we have had this year, but I know they will be amazing in a completely different way.

This summer I will continue working in FYI, mainly planning our month long training for August.  Along with that I will be doing a practicum in the Study Abroad Office through the Department of International Programs.  In that job I will be working on an assessment project as well as planning International Week and the Study Abroad Fair.  Anyway, I am so blessed by the Lord for the unique opportunities he has provided me and the passion I have for my job and these amazing students.