One Mission One Voice

Final Thoughts for CSL: 490

         Someone was thinking of students in 1937, and they were right on point! Higher education as it was needed a face-lift and it is now up to us to continue to implement the right kind of changes that will lead students to think critically, problem-solve, collaborate, and engage with their communities and culturally diverse people. Our collection of pins is a myriad of information that both impacts and informs our profession. It impacts our profession because information changes so rapidly (hence why we need to be life-long learners), it impacts our training and the course work for the societal issues we will be facing once in the field, affects our relationships with mental health agencies, schools, and our colleagues by being more unified. It informs us by providing a bird’s eye view of the kind of issues we are facing today on college campuses in America (suicide, pressure, substance abuse), it allows us to fill the pot-holes in higher education and seal them with care and concern for the student, it renders proof that students are dropping out school and that other factors and barriers may be the cause. Our collective pins also evoked our uniqueness and special interest within counseling, it provided quotes, images, books, articles, and statistics based on the lens from which we see things different but with the same mission in mind.

It has been a pleasure being a part of this group of future professionals. This class set the tone for what is to be expected from us as we continue through the counseling program. I learned about my brain preference / behaviors and the impact that it has when working with others, how to write learning outcomes and the importance of assessments, and using social-media as a tool for learning and networking. More importantly I learned from my peers. Oliver Debe your thoughts were insightful and it was great engaging with you via twitter, Jules Lloyd I appreciated your transparency during our discussion about multiculturalism, Katherine Dalin thank you for sharing your learning outcomes with me, Ana Reyes for sharing her experiences about Daley College and her career ambitions, Kathryn Gonzales & Samantha Bara embraced that the quiet ones can be leaders too, Rahael Mathew for sharing an article about racism in the professional world and for making everything a humbling learning experience when I work with her and to Dr. Whitney, for being the poster child for the most unstructured class. I learned to appreciate that learning doesn’t always come in a pretty little box. Thank you all for your contributions.

Keeling & Hersh (2012) contend, that higher education is in a state of emergency. The job ahead of us is incomplete and we have work to do, but it will take our voices to be heard, collaboration, and leaders like you to lean in when facing naysayers. My ambition is that I am able to successfully graduate from DePaul University and apply my counseling knowledge and skills within higher education for the betterment of students and their lives, and knowing that it was worth every penny because I learned.

All the best,

Sally Delgado

CSD Track 

Strollermom04@yahoo.com