My personal statement paper served as critical piece to the development to my personal mission paper.   The statement was originally written as part of my application for the College Student Personnel program at Bowling Green State University.  Although brief, the statement articulated values of compassion, service, social justice, and student-centeredness. It also provided a glimpse of why I initially decided to become a student affairs practitioner, which I had forgotten.  I think that this statement refreshed and reminded me of the reasons why I wanted to serve students and work in a college environment, thus it impacted my personal mission paper.
          

Personal Statement

CSP 6050: Personal Mission Paper

​​As part of the curriculum for CSP 6050, I had to create a mission statement that reflected my personal and professional values.  As stated before, my personal statement catalyzed my ability to find what these were. My personal mission paper served a reflective piece that reinforced the values that I had when I wrote my personal statement for the program. I think that paper forced me to learn and think deeply about what components in my personal and professional life motivated me. Additionally, it challenged me to articulate these values in the form of a paper.  Through my experience writing it, I found myself gaining a sense of ownership for these values. I discovered that I was proud to hold them because I felt that they accurately represented who I am. This realization resulted in a personal commitment to these values. This new sense of ownership increase my confidence and ability to articulate them to the rest of my classmates in one of our classes. Prior to this, I would have struggled to identify the reasoning behind my held values but, because of this experience, I felt more at ease walking others through my logic.  In other words, this paper provided me with the clarity I needed to articulate my values.

Using this clarity, I reminded myself of who I am and the things that make me happy.  This newfound knowledge will now play a critical part of my future endeavors.  I think that coming to terms with both my personal and professional values will allow me to utilize them in order to ground my actions in my work. This means that I will actively seek employment that is reflective of these values.  Additionally, I believe that being aware of these values will make it easier to display them within my daily work as a practitioner.  My actions will thus be reflective of my personal foundations.  That means that I will be more active in creating or becoming involved in opportunities that will align with these values.  I think that this new awareness will allow take ownership of my experience as an aspiring practitioner.  I will do this by making sure that I hold others accountable to upholding their own standards and those of the profession.

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I believe that these two artifacts display my ability to reflect.  Reflection is one my highly utilized tools in supervision style. I believe that my self-awareness makes me naturally curious to learn about the values that others hold.  This natural curiosity enables me to create reflective discussions and conversations with my students in order to quench my curiosity and promote their own personal development.  I believe this is why I have been successful in building genuine connections with my students. The mutualistic relationship that exist between both my students and I provides an experience were I will contribute to their self-awareness and they contribute to my learning.  Furthermore, I believe that my self-awareness promotes an environment conducive to learning, because I am able to engage students in their own development by catering to their needs and interests. I believe that student who have experienced me as a supervisor leave gaining a greater appreciation for reflection.

          

​​Basic

Identify key elements of one's set of personal beliefs and commitments (e.g., values, morals, goals, desires, self-definitions), as well as the source of each (e.g., self, peers, family, or one or more larger communities).

 

Identify one's primary work responsibilities and, with appropriate ongoing feedback, craft a realistic, summative self-appraisal of one's strengths and limitations.

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Identify one's primary work responsibilities and, with appropriate ongoing feedback, craft a realistic, summative self-appraisal of one's strengths and limitations.

 

Describe the importance of one's professional and personal life to self, and recognize the intersection of each.

 

Articulate awareness and understanding of one's attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and identity as it affects one's work with others; and take responsibility to develop personal cultural skills by participating in activities that challenge one's beliefs.

 

Recognize and articulate healthy habits for better living.

 

Articulate an understanding that wellness is a broad concept comprised of emotional, physical, social, environmental, relational, spiritual, and intellectual elements.

 

Articulate meaningful goals for one's work.

 

Recognize the importance of reflection in personal and professional development.

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​Intermediate

Identify the present and future utility of key elements in one's set of personal beliefs and commitments.

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Recognize needs and opportunities for continued growth.

 

Identify sources of dissonance and fulfillment in one's life and take appropriate steps in response.

 

Recognize the effect between one's professional and personal life, and develop plans to manage any related concerns.

 

Articulate an understanding of others' attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions, biases, and identity as they affect one's work.

 

Analyze personal experiences for potential deeper learning and growth, and engage with others in reflective discussions.