1749

When I thought about coming to Kent State University to pursue a Master of Education in Higher Education I never dreamed it would result in the person I am today. Being in this program has not only prepared me to be successful within higher education, but it has made me a better human being. My knowledge and views on higher education have developed into complete thoughts which I can articulate and my passion for higher education has only increased. I have also met an immense amount of people who will be colleagues and friends for life. I developed these relationships and gained this knowledge because of the way Kent State’s program is structured and all of the people I was able to meet. When I think about the program two words come to my mind, individual and practical. One of the best things about Kent’s program is how individually focused it is. Each student has the potential to have a completely different experience. There are core classes but there are also a huge number of electives offered. This gives students an opportunity to specialize in whatever they want to specialize in. I personally didn’t discover what I wanted to specialize in until later in the program but I still very much individualized my degree. If I had known in the beginning of the program what I know now, I would have tried to take as many counseling focused classes as possible. I discovered through many classes, especially career counseling, and through my assistantship that counseling is my favorite part of my job and it is also where my skills are most successful. Although, I would have changed a few classes I am still very pleased with the classes I did take because I learned about a wide variety of aspects within higher education that will make me a better professional and extremely versatile within a university. I explored student affairs with the student affairs functions class and specializations in service learning and practicum experiences in student conduct and student activities. I also explored the academe side of higher education with a curriculum class. There are also core administration classes that focus on leadership as well as diversity. Some students in the program were able to specialize in working with international students by completing an international certificate and other people completed teaching certificates. I did not specialize but I still had a very unique classroom experience that is unlike most of my peers because of the combination of classes I chose to take. Originally I was not aware how unique my experience would have because I didn’t know how unique my interests were. I am grateful that Kent State gave me the opportunity to personalize my experience though and explore areas I was specifically interested in. In some cases the classes inspired me to want to explore the topics even more while in other cases I felt I had learned enough to know that it was no longer an area of extreme interest for me. The other word that comes to mind when thinking about this program is practical. Kent State gives its students wonderful opportunities to have practical experiences within departments they are interested in being professional members of some day. They also provide many opportunities for students to acquire graduate assistantships. They partner with many schools in the area so that students who are thinking about coming to Kent State University have every opportunity available. I had no idea how much I would value my practical experiences at the end of the program. While I do believe a balance of theory and practice are important, these practical experiences are making me much more competitive in the job search process. They also have taught me a lot about myself and the type of higher education professional I want to be. Through having practical experiences in student activities, student conduct, and residence life, I have learned that a strong passion of mine is student interaction. I have learned that one of biggest strengths is building relationships with students as well as professionals. I have also learned that it is one of the things I enjoy most about the profession. I have also learned that I am not passionate about programming. I admire people who exceed in programming and value them as an important part of a student affairs team but I am not one of those people. I also found out that I am very passionate about student conduct as well as residence life and all aspects of them. They give you the opportunity to build and impact community which is extremely appealing to me. Through my practical experiences I also learned about boundaries with students as well as the type of supervisor I would like to be. Kent State has done a wonderful job emphasizing that every higher education institution is different and each has their positives as well as negatives. Kent State did not just focus on theory or practicality nor did it focus on just administration or only student affairs. It combined all of these aspects of training higher educational professionals and let each student pick their own path into higher education. I will be eternally grateful for this freedom as well as these experiences.