Hi, my name is Allison. Thank you for reading my first official blog post for The College of Saint Rose! I cannot express how excited I am to contribute to the talented community of Saint Rose bloggers.
Allow Me To Introduce Myself:
I can basically summarize my life in the following ways…
1. Student. I’m passionate about learning and will continue being a student (whether officially or not) throughout my life.
2. Crafter. Whether I’m making jewelry, painting, decoupaging, or doing the occasional needlework, crafts are what I often turn to in the down time between semesters or homework assignments.
3. Reader/Writer. When I’m not reading textbooks, I’m reading for pleasure. I write many papers as a grad student and truly enjoy the research and writing process. No wonder I enjoy being a student!
4. Admirer of Nature. I love hiking, running, and camping… just about anything involving being outdoors. I often escape to a local town park (like Washington Park near Saint Rose) or drive along some back roads to take in the beautiful Upstate New York atmosphere. I hail from a tiny town about 1.5 hours west of Albany called Saint Johnsville, NY, at the foot of the Adirondack Mountains where my love for nature grew.
My Path to Saint Rose:
I lived in Saint Johnsville from the time I was 6 months old until I turned 24 and moved to Albany to attend The College of Saint Rose. However, I wouldn’t say that I chose to attend Saint Rose. I honestly feel like Saint Rose chose me, and it was only a matter of time before I would pursue an academic degree at this institution. I felt an instant connection to the beautiful, welcoming campus atmosphere and the friendly staff and students I interacted with during my campus tour as a high school junior. One highly attractive aspect of the campus for me was the Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary. Knowing Saint Rose values and welcomes diversity in faith and offers a peaceful setting for the campus community to retreat to and/or worship has always resonated with me on a very deep level. I often visit the Sanctuary when I’m looking for a quiet place to read or take a break from my hectic schedule. 🙂
For financial reasons and indecision about my academic/career goals, I didn’t attend Saint Rose as an undergraduate. However, after finishing my A.A. in Liberal Arts and my B.A. in Psychology- coupled with my five years’ experience working in various positions on a college campus during undergrad- I knew it was time to make some big moves. When I realized Saint Rose offered a program in College Mental Health Counseling, it felt like fate. This program joined my two major passions, psychology and higher education. Needless to say, I only applied to one graduate program when the time came. I can’t explain my level of excitement when I received my acceptance letter. After my first semester, I realized what I was truly interested in pursuing was a career in college student affairs (which I’ll talk more about later), so I changed my major to College Student Services Administration (or as we in the program call it, “CSSA”).
Throughout my last year in the CSSA program, I hope to share what I’m learning in the classroom and what I’m doing outside of the classroom. Some of the topics I look forward to blogging about include professional development experiences, my path to securing and working the required 300-hour CSSA internship, and various on-campus and community happenings.
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