Christopher D. Valentino

Personal Foundations

 

Throughout my two years at BGSU I have developed a deeper understanding of my own identity and what it takes to sustain my own physical, mental, emotional, and intellectual wellbeing.  As such, I would rate myself at a proficient level for the personal foundations competency.

 

I broke my right foot during the first day of graduate student orientation a little over four weeks after arriving at BGSU.  During the eleven weeks that my foot took to heal I learned a great deal about my own wellness and harmony. In particular I learned that physical fitness and wellbeing are very important to my stress management techniques, and psychological resiliency.  Before breaking my foot I ran an average of 40 miles per week in order to relieve stress, reflect, and stay fit.  My inability to run was a large source of dissonance for me as I struggled to adapt to other forms of exercise and stress management techniques.  Although I eventually was able to recover and begin running again I learned that in order to be effective professionally I have to be physically well.  As such, I have taken steps to begin cross-training in order to reduce my dependence on a single form of exercise for my stress management.   

 

Likewise, my time as a Graduate Hall Director and my personal reflection through CSP 6035: Multicultural Competence in Student Affairs has taught me the importance of maintaining congruency between my personal values and my professional work.  For example, social justice is a core personal value of mine that I try to incorporate into my professional work as much as possible.  Although I have been able to make meaningful second-order paradigm impacts with my students and staff members I have been unsuccessful in addressing any organizational or systematic injustices at BGSU.  My lack of progress promoting multicultural organizational development has shown that I have a deep desire to work towards systematic change in my future professional career (Pope et al., 2004).

 

Although the law school application process is not directly connected with my experiences in the College Student Personnel program, it forced me to clarify my values and begin working towards my dream of becoming a legal advocate for higher education.  The application process forced me to reflect upon my CSP experiences and clearly articulate how my passion for higher education and student affairs translates into a legal-oriented career.  As such, the application process served as another layer of reflective synthesis as I directly connected my experiences as a Graduate Hall Director responding to crisis situations and student crisis to the federal regulations that structure and govern institutions of higher education.