SIMMA down na'

cri·sis   /ˈkraɪsɪs/ [krahy-sis] noun, plural -ses  /-siz/, adjective:

a psychological or social condition characterized by unusual instability caused by excessive stress and either endangering or felt to endanger the continuity of an individual or group

Happy Monday!!! All in all, today was a very productive day. It started out with lunch with the AVP of Housing and Dining Services and the Executive Director of OSD. We chatted about how we all came into the field of higher ed and the challenges associated with our profession. The AVP (his name keeps escaping me), made mention that out of his 30 years in the profession, this past year has been one of the most difficult because of the California (and American) financial crisis. At the end of our time together, he invited us to sit in on an Executive Cabinet meeting!!! Very excite!!!





Following lunch, we had our weekly Residence Life Staff meeting, where one of my colleagues facilitated a few activities revolving around the results from our Strengths Quest survey. For those of you who aren't familiar with Strength's Quest, it is a personality typology that identifies and ranks your top five strengths. There are 34 possible strengths, and there is a 34 million to one chance that someone has the same top 5 strengths (in the same order) that you do. My top five are 1) Communication (I talk a lot, able to put my thoughts into words, and I'm articulate) 2) Developer (I am good at identifying the potential in others and help them to achieve their potential) 3) Woo (Yes woo...apparently I like to be the person to 'break the ice' and to make people like me) 4) Positivity (I'm an upbeat person, and apparently other people are attracted to that) 5) Individualization (I'm good at identifying the uniqueness of individuals and can identify how different people can work well together). I found that I identify with all of my strengths, with the exception of my #1...Communication. I don't think I'm very articulate, as I often stumble over words and find myself saying "uh" a lot, as I try to find a way to express myself.





Tonight, I had planned on working on my research transcripts for Alyssa's research group. (So far I've done 2.5...out of 14, all due in 10 days). However, I had to handle my first student crisis as a Residence Hall Director. I know this sounds really bad, but I was very excited as I enjoy handling crisis situations. Perhaps I have a savior complex? Anyway, this person had a falling out with their roommate. While this individual was in class, the roommate moved all of their stuff out of the dorm room and destroyed the door deck (a sign on the front door with each person's name). Feeling threatened the person didn't feel comfortable sleeping in their room that night...so I, along with Kristin (my supervisor), decided to move the resident to another building. Tomorrow I will be having a conversation with my RA so that the RA will address the roommates behavior that led to the falling out. The entire situation was very funny, as it matched perfectly with scenario that my group mates and I worked with for our Student Development Theory, Theory to Practice project ("Why don't people like people?!!!")





After all of that, I'm now very tired. Cheers!