Journal Update #4 - 9/19/19
If I thought the 1-on-1 meeting with Rebecca last week was daunting, then I had no idea what was coming for me for the upcoming chairs meeting. The room was filled with eight people including me; however, I was the only person without any administrative professional title. Rebecca figured that I should open the meeting with a short presentation of my proposal. Among the stuttering and pausing, I believed that I managed to relay my proposal to the audience, and the handouts I made certainly helped. What followed was a brief intercourse among the chairs on what role I should have in Every Oredigger. A particular individual, Roel Snieder seemed impressed by my intentions. Rebecca mentioned that the initiative currently lacks a concrete programming committee, and there is potential for me to lead it. At that moment, joy and relief filled me as my poker face attitude kept me from getting too excited. The 20 minutes of full attention on me eventually transitioned to covering the other logistics of Every Oredigger such as the upcoming Food Trucks event, making organization souvenirs, and coordinating the new website: You@Mines. I did not partake in any of this discussion as I felt like I had no right to; why would these administrators want to listen to a college student? As an alternative, I decided to pull out my laptop and take "meeting minutes" in order to appear like I am contributing to the session. Before I left, Professor Snieder pulled me aside to talk about his subcommittee dealing with campus culture change. He wanted to talk to me in the future about possible working with him and joining his committee. Shortly after that discussion, Rebecca brought up the programming committee and the need for leadership. I assumed that the other administration were thinking of me as a chair lead, so I was torn between this opportunity and my plans with Professor Snieder. I left the student center that day with immense motivation regarding the next steps of my practicum.
Wednesday September 18, I had my 1-on-1 meeting with Roel Snieder. I walked into the room once he was done talking with another professor relating to the death of a faculty member, so the room had a gloomy tone. We talked about my vision for my practicum and how I decided to pursue an public art piece for Mines. He then proceeded to share his aspirations in publicizing a list of "Best Practices" for both the student and staff populations in order to change campus climate for the better. It was apparent to come up with a compromise: a creative exhibit that would display the best practices list to the general public. Based on such an obvious conclusion, I determined that the meeting with Roel went incredibly well. I even made the choice to join his committee, in particular, a sub-sub committee on mental health within culture change (within Every Oredigger). This decision meant that I would not lead the programming group for Every Oredigger, but I was sure that Rebecca wouldn't mind. The best part was that the head of my new subcommittee was Sareen Lambright Dale, one of the directors of the Peer Educators who I was already familiar with. Overall, this past week has been extremely beneficial to the progress of my practicum, and I hope that I can continue this momentum going forward.