CLAIRE
HOOVER
Personal Values
Professional Values
Enthusiasm
Self-Directed Learning
Creativity
Making an Impact
Health
Advocating for Others
Flexibility
Community
Tradition
Investment
My highest personal value is enthusiasm. Enthusiasm, to me, is an undeniable passion towards a subject or cause. I truly believe that if we are to live our lives in a way that we can show others that we are enthusiastic and passionate about what we do, we have achieved success and happiness. Being able to show enthusiasm when a person has a perfect life with all his/her hopes and dreams fulfilled is one thing. However, showing enthusiasm in face of adversity and unwanted change is something I strive to do. I believe that we should be enthusiastic about being alive and the ability to live a life to model for others. To show enthusiasm in all that we do, others will follow suit. Myers (1992) explained that if we act like we are happy then we can become happy. I believe the same can be said about those we surround ourselves with. If we show enthusiasm in the workplace, our co-workers will follow suit and if we are enthusiastic about and in our personal relationships, then our friends, partners, and family will feel more positively about your relationship (Higgin & Rohles, 1978). Enthusiasm shows a passion for life and is contagious.
According to Pavlina (2012), “our values act as our compass to put us back on course every single day” (p. 2). Without the value I place on learning, especially self-directed learning, my life would lack direction. My value for learning drives my life and how I apply myself in my work with my students, peers, and personal relationships. Learning is more than books and classrooms; it is taking the time to learn others’ stories and learning who we are. The world is my classroom and the most important thing to do is always remain curious and ask questions. Every person and moment is a learning opportunity that should be embraced. If I can show others, especially my friends, family, and students, the enthusiasm I have for learning and continuously gaining knowledge of the world around me, I can instill the same value of learning in them.
I have three passions: people, education, and music. These three passions come together in my third value: creativity. Another step in letting go of my “victim” attitude started when I found a way to channel my energy into something positive: making music. Music has played a large role in my life ever since I started piano lessons at the age of three. When I started playing violin in the fifth grade my love blossomed into passion. I found that I could channel my emotions and turn them into something beautiful. Music has the ability to give chills, make you cry, and have you feel emotions, all without words. Music gave me a place to go that took me away from reality. Music has also given me discipline and a different perspective of human interaction: music is its own language. Music was another step in my interest in pursuing an education in student affairs and counseling. Creativity is an outlet that can be used differently by all individuals. For me, it was music because it allowed me to express myself in ways that words could not. I believe that everyone should find something creative that inspires them. Through creativity people can find connections with others they never knew they had, and be used as a tool for learning, emotional well-being, and making an impact on others.
I do not believe that my life has been a success unless I have made an impact on others. However, it is extremely important that the impact I am making is a positive one. A life lived for me and no one else lacks what I believe to be most important: people and connections. Making an impact is more than just telling someone to do something, it is advocating for those who don’t have advocates; it is building rapport with students who had negative educational experiences, and changing their opinions based on positive action. I cannot make an impact without gaining others trust and I cannot gain a person’s trust unless I show that I am enthusiastic to learn about who they are and what their ambitions are.
According to Pavlina (2012) “time is our most limited resource” (p. 1) and there is only one way to gain more time: health. Watching my father fight a debilitating disease has helped me understand the importance of doing what I can for myself to gain as much time as possible. Life is short, and I want to ensure that I am doing things for my physical and emotional health that will allow me to appreciate the time I have, regardless of how long that time is. Emotional health will help me enjoy the moment, and my physical health will give me the opportunity to set goals for my future, and actually be there to watch those goals come into fruition. My emotional well being comes from knowing that I am living my values and being true to myself. My physical health is facilitated by healthy habits and ensuring that I am not taking on too much. I cannot be enthusiastic, learn, be creative, or make an impact if I am not there to enjoy and live those moments.
Student affairs, above all else, believes in advocating for others, particularly students, and those who are not usually advocated for. Manning (2009) explains that social justice, the most highly regarded position in educational practice, is a “commitment to action in regard to changing systems and removing injustice” (p. 17). The profession of student affairs values advocating for those who are often silenced, something that I also value in a profession. Whether I am working in the area of student affairs, or mental health counseling, I believe that it is important to ensure that all parties are heard and that all people have access to the same opportunities. Although I believe that student affairs values this, it might not always be done without bias. This became noticeable to me in my multicultural class through an article written by Dafina Stweart (2008), highlighting how the conservative voice is often silenced. This article can be best summarized by the quote “multicultural competence requires that we embrace the feasibility of multiple possibilities of truth, reality, and justice along with multiple avenues of reaching those goals” (Stewart, 2008, p. 17). Before this course, I was aware of the social injustices of gender and ethnicity, but this course forced me to be sensitive to other silencing acts that I might be perpetuating. Student affairs believes in advocating for all, but still has a way to go before realizing that sometimes the profession only advocates for those who have the “correct” thoughts and actions.
I believe that the profession of student affairs also values flexibility. Higher education is driven by the environmental needs of people who will be attending an institution in the future, and the stakeholders within the institution. Thus, change is imminent, and student affairs professionals need to be flexible and have the ability to deal with change as it occurs. Although I believe that flexibility is important, I think the ability to embrace change is even more important. To create a long standing change, a leader who has dedicated followers that will follow through in the change process. To gain followers, the leader needs to be charismatic, inspirational, provide intellectual stimulation, and have individual consideration (Burke, 2011, p. 256). I believe it is the responsibility of student affairs professionals to embrace change and take on the position of being the change leader. Being “flexible” is not enough to create and facilitate change, something I believe to be important regardless of the profession. Being flexible can be compared to a rubber band that can be stretched and twisted; after a while it will become less elastic, and breaks. However, embracing change as a value is comparable to sand on the beach; it can be used to construct castles or anything the mind can imagine, but the tide will always come to wash it away, leaving it a blank slate to be molded again. A rubber band can only do so much, but sand has infinite possibilities. Although flexibility is important, I hold that, even if the desired outcome is being met in the present, the external environment might be different (changing). Therefore, we must not just be flexible and tolerate change, we must modify our behaviors; we are changing too, even if it is not obvious.
Another value that I believe the profession of student affairs holds is that of community. Although many may view community as the idea of bringing others together, I view community as an obligation to the profession of student affairs as a whole. This means that student affairs professionals believe that research is important to legitimizing the profession. Boland (1991) explained that student affairs should be clearly involved in supporting the academic mission of the institution, while also making sure to demonstrate how student affairs is an integral part of supporting that mission. One of the largest barriers that student affairs professionals have is being taken seriously as a profession, especially by faculty. Boland (1991) goes on to explain that student affairs often are resented by many faculty members due to an element of campus bureaucracy. If student affairs professionals can prove themselves as a profession they will be taken seriously by the institution. To live this value I will make sure to keep up-to-date with relevant literature, and one day contribute with published research.
Along with valuing community, student affairs also values tradition. Tradition in the most basic sense is a custom or behavior that is passed from one generation to the next. When I think of tradition in student affairs work, I think of the guiding principles of the institution, or mission. The mission is viewed as the guiding force that influences aspects of the daily institution life as well as the future development and growth of the institution (Barr, 2000, p. 25). Having a clear institutional mission can help organizations make decisions that follow the principles of the mission and turn down decisions that steer away from the mission (Morphew & Harley, 2006, p. 457). Mission guides the behaviors of student affairs professionals. In addition to mission, there is also the tradition within the profession. Evans and Reason (2001) summarize the thirteen major student affairs philosophical statements, all of which inform the profession and the ways in which we should act. The traditions of institutions of higher education as well as the traditions of the profession guide the behaviors of student affairs professionals and without the value of tradition, student affairs would not be the profession it is. Wherever I work in student affairs, I will work to live the mission of my institution and instill in my students and collegues the values of the institution I serve. Moreover, I will also work to live out the values of the student affairs profession.
The last, among many values that I think the profession of student affairs holds, is that of investment. To me, the term investment is the time and energy that an individual is willing to put into the work they do. Student affairs professionals are required to work long hours, deal with difficult situations, all while not always being viewed as a necessary part of students’ development (especially by faculty/administrators). Many times student affairs professionals must deal with the bureaucracy of an institution. According to Godwin and Markham (1996), it is important to learn to operate in a bureaucracy if one is to be successful but may cause people to feel alienated and disempowered. Student affairs professionals might often have to do tasks that they believe are taking away from the crucial time they could be working with students, however these tasks are necessary to function within the system. Bureaucracy requires an investment of time and resources that could be used to work with students. Bureaucracy might detract from student interaction, something very important to student affairs professionals. This means that student affairs professionals must manage their time wisely. Investment of time and energy is a crucial value if professionals are to be successful in student affairs.
I will bring together my personal experiences, passion for education, and yearning to advocate for all in both my personal and professional life. I believe that education is an amazing tool to instill a passion for learning, create social change, and inspire creativity. I seek to do so through my work in student affairs and ultimately mental health counseling. I will strive to meet each person where they are developmentally and assist them in establishing their own vision of the future. I value having, sharing, and instilling enthusiasm, facilitating and participating in learning, inspiring creativity, making a positive impact, and the physical and mental health of myself and others. In my endeavors in student affairs I have learned to value, and strive to align with the values of advocacy, flexibility, obligation the student affairs community, tradition, and investment. I will live a life that aligns with my values and ensure that all work I pursue will also align- with these values.
My Mission Statement
Personal Statement of Mission Paper
