Final ALE Reflection

Within the Discipline

Being an education student and a Residential Leader has shown me that both activities heavily

involve service and can easily be compared. In my childrens literature class I took last semester, I was

required to do an hour of service organizing the book room in the education building. Although this task

seemed tedious and boring, I found ways to make it more enjoyable like chatting with my professor and

other volunteers while working. In the Residential Leader position, there are some administrative tasks

like writing incident reports and interactions that seem unexciting and endless, but by finding a way to

enjoy it, one can make all service fun. This past summer I took an online course about special education

law while working a full-time and part-time job. Regardless of my hectic schedule, I found plenty of time

to help my classmates with our group assignments and individual work. The Residential Leader

experience is all about this concept of balancing service with academic responsibility, so through practice

in this course, I have built on my ability to divide my time between helping myself and helping others.

The education course that has shown me the most about service so far has been my professional

development class this that requires me to observe a classroom and tutor a student. However, getting in

the classroom made me eager to teach, so my mentor teacher allowed me to help teach some material in

the course and tutor other students in the class. To me, this transfers to being a Residential Leader because

it proves that if one has the heart or drive to serve as many people as they can, they will gladly go out of

their way to do so.

Beyond the Discipline

Some of my core curriculum classes also have connections to the Residential Leader experience

in terms of service. When I took my chemistry class during my first semester at Tarleton, I had an easier

time than most of my classmates. Because I grasped the material better, I was able to help my classmates

with their homework that I happened to be working on, too. I have had many experiences as a Residential
Leader where residents have been in my classes and have needed my help with remembering and doing

assignments, and I always help whenever I can similar to my online class last summer. The Residential

Leader experience also requires attentive listening skills, so I often find myself using knowledge from my

public speaking class frequently. In the course, we learned that listening and body language have a

massive impact on communication. By listening intently and using my knowledge of body language, I can

assess, help, and solve situations that residents may have. Another service I apply to being a Residential

Leader was learned in my psychology class: the use of encouragement as motivation. Motivation is a

strong tool when used properly to produce intrinsic rewards, and this year as a Residential Leader I have

implemented more encouragement opportunities to help residents stay internally motivated to do their

best.

Beyond Academics

Service has been a huge part of my life since I was young starting with mission trips through my

church and currently in my service sorority. Over the years, I have been involved in three national and

three international mission trips, but my mission trip to Haiti showed me the most. In Haiti, we worked

long hours in the hot sun, but our work was so fulfilling that it was all worth it in the end to see the joyful

faces that we impacted in our short time there. I use this motivation of helping others through my day-to-

day Residential Leader work and schoolwork. I know that times may get hard and I may have some long

nights, but if I keep my eye on the end goal, I can work through the hard times to see my residents

succeed and leave a legacy at Tarleton. More recently, I have been involved in my band service sorority,

Tau Beta Sigma. This organization has given me the opportunity to see that I can individually make an

impact, but I can make a lasting impression with the help of others. In the Residential Leader experience,

I serve other Residential Leaders on my staff as much as I possibly can because I want to see everyone

succeed, and I know this can be accomplished better as a team.

Interconnectedness

The Residential Leader experience has made an impressionable impact on my education, and my

education impacts my experience, as well. As a teacher, I will most likely need to go over and beyond to

meet the needs of my students, so I strive to achieve this as a Residential Leader to the best of my

abilities. In return, I use my knowledge from my core classes, such as public speaking, and my education

classes, such as my professional development class, to be an effective and supportive Residential Leader.

For example, in public speaking, I learned how to speak to groups of people confidently while using

intentional aids which I can apply to my current position and future occupation. All of the leadership

skills I learned through serving on mission trips and in my sorority by being a chapter officer has helped

me become a better leader within my hall and vice versa. Each of my academic and nonacademic

endeavors has helped to develop various leadership and interpersonal skills that I will need as a

Residential Leader and a teacher later on.

Global Awareness

This year of being a Residential Leader has been unlike my last. Coming in, I thought that having

all honors students would be difficult because they would not want to be involved in anything besides

academics and would be fairly independent and not want to socialize. I could not have been more wrong.

Some of my residents do fit this stereotype, but the majority of them are highly involved in their jobs or

other extracurricular activities on campus and have many friends inside and outside of the hall. They also

love being social because they often have classes together and relate to each other well. During my first

semester at Tarleton, I feel like I fit the stereotype I subjected my residents to initially, so naturally, I

expected them to be similar. However, based on my observations, honors students have evolved to

disprove the typical honors student stereotype. By learning about the evolution of the college honors

student, I have been able to eliminate the incorrect stereotype that I could have applied later on in life if I

had not had this experience.

Broader Implications

There are several global issues which can be found within the Residential Leader experience, but

the first one to come to mind are conflicts between diverse people. Oftentimes, residents in the halls come

from a variety of backgrounds and have different experiences in life which can cause many problems. I

have had several experiences this year when conflicts arose due to students being wrongly judged and

stereotyped. This is especially relevant in the world with controversies regarding immigration, terrorism,

and international involvement in national affairs. I think that having more experience dealing with diverse

people can help address diversity issues on a smaller scale which can, therefore, impact a larger

community of people causing a chain reaction. The Residential Leader experience ultimately provides

students with a fantastic opportunity to work with a diverse community of students within the residential

halls.