As Graduate Assistant for the Department of Recreation and Athletics, I was responsible for planning, implementing and assessing the Student Development and Leadership Program (SDL) for student staff across the department.  The first of these events for the 2012-13 school year was an SDL on Communication. For this program, we adapted an idea utilized by Dr. Ellen Broido with her advisees to encourage our student staff to have open lines of communication with their supervisors. 

​

In the SDL we had student staff participants at all levels create learning contracts as a way to develop goals for the year and create a shared set of standards for the work they would engage in.  Because the intention of the SDL program is to develop student staff holistically as leaders and advocates for themselves, the Learning Contracts covered goals in all areas that might affect our student staff: Departmental Goals, Professional Goals, Personal Goals, and Academic Goals.
 

For Department Goals, I identified five goals that directly correlate with the learning outcomes of the Department of Recreation and Wellness.  Student staff were then to work with their direct supervisor (either Student Supervisor or Professional Staff) to identify goals for the year in the other three categories.  In presenting this SDL, we made sure to talk about how to write “good goals” that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely.

In an effort to further support the students in getting started working toward accomplishing their goals, the Learning Contracts also had an area where student staff identified action items related to their goals.  Through completing the entire form, student staff were able to say sentences like, “I plan to gain practical hands-on job experience by developing leadership programming for students.”

​

This SDL and associated activity is an exemplary example of my advising and helping competency because of the role I played in helping student staff become advocates for themselves.  In my role as Graduate Assistant for Student Programming and Leadership, I did not directly supervise any student staff.  Instead, my role was to advise staff through creating programming that helps enhance their development.  Through the Learning Contracts activity used in the Communication SDL, I was able to directly help student staff in their development by considering what they hoped to gain from their staff experience.