By Bobby Wilson, SAA 2020
“Becoming isn’t about arriving somewhere or achieving a certain aim. It is instead a forward motion, a means of evolving, a way to reach continuously toward a better self. The journey doesn’t end.” -Michelle Obama
In July, 2018, I arrived at MSU and embarked on my journey in the Student Affairs Administration program in the hopes of “becoming an adult” and achieving the education level to eventually “move up” in the field of student affairs. Looking back, I should have had other reasons but if I am being honest those were the main two! I remember feeling so excited to be a student again. Having been away from school for three years, I truly missed it. It was all the little things that I missed.. Cramming for finals week. All nighters with friends. Class projects. It is strange that many of the things I hated about being an undergraduate student ended up being some of the things I missed the most.
Fast forward about 21 months, and here I am about to graduate and move onto the next steps in my life. As I reflect upon my experience at MSU, I am reminded by Michelle Obama that my journey of “becoming an adult” and learning about student affairs does not end here; the experience instead, will continue evolving. My experience at MSU was filled with pivotal learning moments, all of which paved the journey of preparation for whatever is next in my life. Below are the three biggest pros of my graduate school experience:
PRO 1: Leadership
If one thing is true, I feel extremely comfortable and prepared to lead, coach, collaborate with, and mentor others. During my time at MSU, I served as an Assistant Community Director (ACD) for Phillips Hall, and had the chance to supervise 9 students while advising the SnyPhi student hall government. One of the things I loved about my time here is that I got to have a trial and error, if you will, to really practice and learn what kind of leader I want to be, and what my philosophy is as an educator. The assistantships and opportunities to engage in both in and out of classroom learning at MSU are endless– skills that I believe are transferable in almost any field you end up in.
PRO 2: Self-Love
One of my favorite humans in the entire world, RuPaul, is coined with saying “if you can’t love yourself how in the hell are you going to love somebody else?” My experience at MSU has done exactly that for me. I think being a part of the SAA program and pursuing so much research, collaborating with others, growing, etc. you truly have the chance to refine the kind of human you want to be. I have always wanted to be a human that loved every aspect of myself. MSU has put me in a good place, and I have developed a level of confidence and love for myself and my work that I did not have prior to my graduate experience.
PRO 3: New Sense of Inclusion
The final pro I will discuss relates to a new sense of inclusion I have learned at MSU. In the last year or so of my life, I have really challenged myself to be more inclusive. Before starting graduate school, I realized that oftentimes my understanding of inclusion did not always include everyone. I found I had implicit biases for folks who were not your typical liberal. These implicit biases were all stemmed from life experiences and the media. As a gay person, I kind of assumed, for example, that religious or conservative people automatically rejected my identity.
Having the chance to supervise 15 RAs and co-manage 4 short course study abroad programs during my two years at MSU has really shown me the power of inclusion. Here at MSU, I have had the chance to engage with individuals from all walks of life that have shown me that education and keeping an open mind can change hearts, even if people hold ideas that may conflict against yours. My MSU experience has prepared me to collaborate with and build relationships across differences, which I think is an important skill in student affairs. I think this skill is a process and can be more or less difficult depending on one’s identity, but I hope to continue to evolve in this arena.