SEAHO Report - Fall 2021 - 17

FEATURE ARTICLES
And, that is what keeps me coming back: the people. The people in this profession matter immensely! It's
hundreds of thousands of people making small positive changes for hundreds of thousands of other people. In
my time, I have met incredibly wonderful human beings at all levels: students, staff, faculty, parents, etc. It
is their humanness that engenders this inherent sense of worthiness that makes it necessary for me to make
sure that their personhood is valued! My " why " (that Simon Sinek has so famously coined) is that people in
this world matter, and it is my vocation to make sure that as many people as I happen to encounter feel like
they matter. Am I perfect at this particular calling? Hardly! And yet, I keep getting up after each knock-down or
mistake time and time again to try it the next day.
Because, in my opinion, there needs to be both types of people within student affairs: the dreamer and the
pragmatist. In this profession, we have to coexist and partner together, sometimes even within the same person!
In order for colleges and universities to persist in the direction away from their origins of a homogeneous
existence for the wealthy, white, straight, heteronormative, Christian man, we need to have variety! We can't
constantly crush the dreamers for having outrageous dreams of an altruistic world where everyone can receive
that life-changing education and can go on and positively impact the world with a little help from an SA
professional, while we cannot simultaneously condemn the pragmatists for keeping the doors open at all costs
and that have had to learn in order to survive in this profession that they need to operate differently between
home and office. I choose to believe there is still good in all, in both extremes, and those in-between.
So to circle back to the question I asked myself today: should I stay in student affairs and housing and residence
life? Today, my answer is yes. It might change tomorrow or the day after that or the day after that. One day the
choice might be made for me when my bleeding heart and strong sense of right and wrong is just not cut out
to do the work. I will most likely not stay long enough to earn the badge of honor of #ResLifer, but for now I
persist. And I hope that when my time comes to leave student affairs or higher education or even specifically
housing and residence life, there will be someone there similar to me to pick up that mantle. I hope that there
will be another bright-eyed, naive " do-gooder " to carry on the cause of being so people-focused that they throw
big business right out the window! But for now, I continue to fight the good fight for people. For now, I choose to
champion my mantra of people matter.
So, I challenge you as I continue to challenge myself day-in and day-out. To my pragmatists: please don't crush
that little dreamer, especially if that little dreamer still resides in you! Please don't steal their joy or take away
their desire to get into the field of student affairs! Choose an optional route of kindness today and help them
navigate the ropes of the big business world or maybe help bail them out when they inevitably spiral from the
idea that they don't make an impact within higher education. To my dreamers: if my thoughts sound similar to
maybe some thoughts of your own, please fight on! Please continue to charge and push on! You might need to
develop a thicker skin, but sometimes a soft heart can be an asset too. The world, specifically this small corner of
the world, needs you. I know that I certainly need you.
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SEAHO Report - Fall 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of SEAHO Report - Fall 2021