Day 5 - First Day on the Job

         Jason, Teddy, Hannah, and I met with Ian Russell, Student Engagement Officer, to further identify department needs and formulate a concrete plan for internship work while at Maynooth University.  The outcome of the meeting was that Hannah and I will explore, this week through database research, Social Justice at North American institutions as to how it is delivered, what content other institutions are using, and how the Maynooth University curriculum can be infused with Social Justice as they move forward.  Another outcome of the meeting was that Ian outlined their student leader orientation process consisting of 60+ student leaders who undergo group interviews of four, approximately one hour, sessions in which their group interaction and leadership skills can be observed.  Jason and Teddy, it was decided, would compile qualitative data collected from student leaders and their recent student orientation, and conduct student focus groups to assess how well they are preparing their orientation leaders.  Student orientation is held over the span of a week with each student attending on two of the days.  Ian also spoke about the role of social media in facilitating first year student connections with each other and the school.

            Hannah and I shadowed Shay Claffey, Chaplain, meeting people he personally invited to tomorrow’s Opening of the Academic Year Eucharist as well as watching him recruit and remind participants of the event and poking our heads into the South Campus College Chapel.  Our shadowing included a pre-mass rehearsal in St. Patrick’s chapel, which is of the scale of a cathedral but called a chapel because it is not located in a city.  Our shadowing took us next to a meeting of a weekly Mindful Meditation group consisting of 12 students, two faculty of which one was Shay; Hannah, and myself.  As this was the first meeting day, it was a beginners and novice introduction to clearing one’s head, having good posture, breathing, and sharing about the experience.  It was interesting to me that Shay felt comfortable admitting that he did not know much about mindfulness, that the group would learn together, and that he might have a guest speaker in the future.  It was obvious that this was for the students and he encouraged it to be student-led, but he and the other faculty dominated the talking with short wait times for students to respond.

            Hannah and I also reviewed a Social Justice brochure and provided edits to Ian.  Additionally, we reviewed multiple Social Justice Week poster samples and provided input and ideas to enhance already-created designs for Ian.  Hannah and I then met in the boardroom of the Student Services building to flush out the bullet points of our action plan for our internship time.  Finally, our larger group of Jason, Teddy, Hannah, and I met with Ian to check-in about the workday and look ahead to tomorrow.

            Benefits of today included relationship building with Ian, Shay, my UNCW teammates, and those we met.  I think both Ian and Shay saw that we are serious, productive, efficient, and that in collaborating we can accomplish more than one person could alone.  With Jason and Teddy, the orientation survey feedback from student leaders would not have been explored.  Without Hannah and myself, tomorrow might not have had presenters of the gifts of bread for the mass, as a student who may be asked to rehearse may not show for the mass and a student asked tomorrow would not have had the benefit of rehearsing.  Without Jason, the idea of embedding Social Justice in the curriculum may not have been considered.  Without me, the idea of looking to the national content standards to see at what level a requirement of Social Justice competencies could be added, may not have been considered.

            Professionally, I benefitted from this experience today in knowledge of face-to-face networking in action and furthering of my small group communication and leadership skills.  I also benefitted by using program evaluation skills which I am developing as part of a course in Program Evaluation which I am taking concurrently this semester.  Additionally, there is comfort in knowing that colleagues experience similarities in gathering survey feedback, proofreading brochure and poster mock-ups, and dealing with the challenges of holding student orientation sessions.  Another benefit was that of using past qualitative coursework and professional work in the preliminary planning for Teddy and Jason to conduct focus groups and ask non-leading questions.  This puts me to think about my English as a Second Language program orientation and how we could tap into student leadership more.  It was a realization to me that Ian facilitates the orientation of 3,000+ students in a week’s time every fall without the support of an administrative assistant as he utilizes student leaders.