A Personal Reflection of Student Affairs Philosophy

Taylor Rilling
Azusa Pacific University

A Personal Reflection of Student Affairs Philosophy

The field of student affairs was all but unknown to me until two years ago when I was at
a conference for student leadership. Some graduate students there spoke about their program in
student affairs. It sounded to me as if they were going into one of the best fields around.
Leadership and high school to college age students have always been a passion of mine.
Combining these two passions into one area is the reason I sought out the field of student affairs.
Through examining the student affairs literature and interviews I started to consider how to
approach my profession with college students. As with all parts of my life my strengths and
Christian faith continue to affect my philosophy in this field.
In order to definitively state a personal student affairs philosophy it is important to
discuss background and foundational work in the field of student affairs. The Student Personnel
Point of View (1939) is an essential foundational work in this profession. It was the first
document to discuss the student as a whole entity. The student is no longer only developed on an
intellectual level, but as an important member of society. Moral, social, and personal
developments are also an important part of the educational process. It is the job of student affairs
professionals to help students develop in these areas outside of the classroom. Co-curricular
activities exist in order to help the student make connections to what he or she is learning in the
classroom. The thinking that students are just in college to take classes is no loner correct. Yes,
students are there to take classes, but college is much more of a developmental time for them. It
is a time for them to learn, explore, and discover their identity as a member of this world.
Student affairs professionals, no matter what area of the field, have an opportunity to help
students develop in all areas of their lives.

The T.H.E. Project written by R. D. Brown (1972) is another piece of student personnel
literature that has influenced my view on student development. In his description of Tomorrows
Higher Education Brown discusses development of students in the college years. These years,
however long they may be, are times of significant development in lives of college students. As
student affairs professionals this is our opportunity to make a positive impact on students and
help them grow in certain areas. These areas of development occur through student
environments such as living areas, peers, and the classroom. At this time in the lives of students,
intentionality is highly important. Taking time to listen to students about their lives and asking
them introspective questions can help students examine their lives in a positive light. Change
therefore occurs when students are able to see the need for a change.
Brown also described student affairs professionals as educators. I am an educator. My
field of work is in higher education and being seen as an educator rings true. I may not be in a
classroom setting, but it is my job to assist students in life education. In one sense this seems
unnecessary, however, realistically companies do not want to hire someone who solely knows a
lot about a field. Companies want an individual who is intelligent in his or her area of work as
well as someone who is able to relate to people, be responsible, and make wise choices. The
ability to educate students in these other areas of life is why student affairs educators exist.
Besides the student affairs literature, I learned a lot from my interviews with student
affairs professionals. Heather Hubbert (personal communication, October 2, 2013) from
California Baptist University and Jami Grosser (personal communication, September 20, 2013)
from Cal Poly Pomona both emphasized the role of helping students. They both agreed that
student development is about supporting, challenging, and helping students through positive and
negative situations. When interviewing both of these professionals I realized the emphasis of

being a help to students. Student development educators exist for the sole purpose of the student.
The job is centered on helping students. Without students, I will have no job. I know for a fact
that both Heather and Jami receive joy when they see a change in the lives of their students.
They both stated their favorite part of the job was seeing positive changes in students lives and
the ability to be there for students. This is why I want to be in the field of student development.
Being there for a student through times of growth in his or her life and seeing the positive
outcomes make the job completely worth the work.
I now realize that this field is more than influencing college students, but educating them.
Co-curricular involvement is a part of the educational process. Encouraging, challenging, and
engaging students in learning new ways to view life is my job. I am a resource and help to every
student that walks through my door. However it happens, I want to encourage him or her to be a
better individual in the world. Ultimately, my goal is to be a servant leader to students. My
example in this is Jesus Christ. He was the perfect example of what it meant to serve and love
people while being in a place of leadership. He loved people where they were, but never wanted
to leave them in that same place. Furthermore, I do not view this as a career, but a ministry.
Influencing and encouraging students in the ways of Christ is my goal as well.
I also view the role of a college student as a job. The occupation of each individual in
college is that of a student. Therefore it is my role as a student affairs professional to educate
students and assist them in being the best employee they are able to be. Like Brown stated, I
am an educator. It is about the students and not my own wants or needs. It is part of my role to
assist students in making the right choices for themselves. Just like in a theatrical production I
am the supporting role in the lives of each student. Every student is the lead actor and I am there
to support the student through decisions. This may include questioning the decisions they make

or advising them not to do something. However this is accomplished my job only exists
because of students.
I believe students are to be loved and accepted where they are, but challenged at the same
time. College is a critical time of change and learning in each of their lives. I know for me,
college was a massive time of growth in my identity. Students are shaping their personal
identity, deciding what they are going to do for a profession, and discovering new things about
the world. Whether or not students admit it, they need guidance. This guidance does not have to
forcing students to behave a certain way, but rather it is a time to encourage them as they learn
more about the world.
Colleges exist to facilitate learning. Students attend college to obtain a diploma that tells
the world they are intellectually prepared for the work force. Learning, nonetheless, is not
confined to the classroom. Learning can happen anywhere where there are people. Learning
also is not confined to intellectual learning as stated in the Student Personnel Point of View
(1939). It needs to take place in all areas of a persons life. The world is not filled with people
who solely know what the book says about something, but have also experienced life. Human
beings learn through out their entire lives. We will never stop learning and it is important for
students to have an attitude of a learner. This being said, my role as a student affairs educator is
to facilitate student learning outside of the classroom, encourage students to be outstanding
citizens of society, and help students develop as a whole person.
When I took the strengths test my freshman year of undergad I was excited because each
of my strengths were based around what I loved doing. My strengths are: Belief, Positivity,
Context, Includer, and Responsibility. Five years later I still see how I use my strengths in every
day life and how I will continue to use them well into my profession. Because belief is my

number one strength every situation that takes place is filtered through my Christian beliefs.
This means my main goal, as a student affair professional is to influence students in a spiritual
way. Coming from the Christian faith this is what my focus is on. My other strength of context
fits with this profession as well because I love understanding how everyone is where he or she is.
History and background of people are very important to me because it helps me understand
people. When I know the persons background it is easier for me to have compassion and accept
the person. When it comes to influencing students we have to show that we care about them.
Getting to know the student through talking about his or her life is a way to be able to help them
more efficiently.
My strengths of positivity and includer are also part of my goals in the student affairs
field. The way I look at the world is always through a positive lens. When it comes to students
and completing tasks I always look at the things that are going well. I focus on the positive
because there is always something to be thankful for even in the direst of circumstances. This
does not mean I do not try to help students through their hard situations, but it does mean that in
the midst of the problem I want to help students see some good in it.
Along with looking on the positive side I am highly aware of whether or not a person is
being included. I never want a student to feel ostracized so I know I will always be encouraging
and accepting of all students. I think this also fits in with wanting to love students where they
are. I would never want a student to feel unwanted because he or she is different in some way.
Last of all, responsibility will definitely affect my job because I always follow through. I know
there is an administrative side to student affairs and I believe my strength of being responsible
will help me in this. I will be able to keep track of what I need to do as a professional all while
still keeping up with students and their lives. Because my strengths are what I am naturally good

at doing I will continue to use them throughout my time in student affairs. They have already
helped me as a student and I see them continuing to influence my understanding as a
professional.
Upon entering this field I do see some challenges that I will go through. The first
challenge I am already experiencing in my assistantship. This challenge has to do with my faith.
I grew up in small town conservative church and went to a college that is definitely conservative.
I knew APU would be more on the liberal side, however, I did not realize how hard it would be
to stand up for my faith. It seems like a crazy idea because APU is a Christian college. I have
experienced a lot of questioning of certain areas of my faith and what I know the Bible says.
This has been hard because I am no longer surrounded by people who see Christianity the way
that I do. However, it has become a good time of growth and examining why I believe what I
believe. I realized that whatever institution I work for I need to be able to support their beliefs.
Right now in my life this means I want to be working at a Christian institution. I do not think I
will be able to work at a public institution at least in the foreseeable future.
Another challenge I am facing as I prepare for this field is acquiring knowledge. I love
learning and am learning so much right now. Nevertheless, it seems as if there is almost too
much to learn in this field. It is great receiving so many new perspectives and information, but it
has been hard to grasp all of it at once. There are a lot of ways to look at one problem, which
means this field never has one answer. I do love this fact, however, at the same time I wish there
was one answer to fit all. On the other hand, this field is about people and there is never a one
mold fits all. Though it is still challenging sorting through these different ideas I am very
thankful for the ability to learn.

As far as my Christian faith I believe it influences every part of my philosophy. My

relationship with God is the most important relationship in my life, and I believe the Bible is
Gods holy word to us. Therefore, I want to love, accept, encourage, challenge, and engage
students to the point where when they leave college they are not the same as when they entered.
This follows the example of Jesus Christ. He loved people and cared deeply about them. He
took that love a step further and did not leave them the same as when he found them. One great
example of this is in John 4 where Jesus talks with the Samaritan woman. He accepted and
spoke with her even though it went against everything the current day Jewish culture said. Being
a Samaritan and a woman meant that this woman was the lowest of the lows in the eyes of Israel.
Because Jesus saw past the outward self of this woman and into her heart he was able to share
the love of God with her and change her life. Despite knowing all the wrong things this woman
had done, Jesus let her know she was still valuable. This is the way I want to approach student
affairs. Jesus saw her as a human being and I think it important to see every student in this way.
Every student has a broken life and is imperfect. If I can seek to encourage students and let them
know it is ok to not be perfect, contrary to what culture says, then I will be more satisfied.
Another part of my faith that will impact my profession in student affairs is connected to
something I learned a lot about this past summer, which is Spiritual Gifts. My spiritual gifts are
exhortation and administration. When I found out these were my spiritual gifts from God I
immediately saw how I could not only use them to serve the Church, but also in student affairs.
My philosophy centers on being a servant-leader and I believe I can use my spiritual gifts to
serve students. Through exhortation, also known as encouragement, I can speak truth into the
lives of students. I love seeing something positive in a person and being able to encourage them

by telling them how I have seen them helping others. The Holy Spirit has spoken through me to
other people in order to encourage them.
My second spiritual gift of administration makes sense to me because I love planning and
behind the scenes work. I take joy in managing others and am learning to have a balance
between being a manager and leader. This also goes along with my strength of responsibility
because I enjoy accomplishing tasks in order to make the big picture of something happen.
Because this is part of my faith I see myself using the gift of administration on a daily basis in
order to direct people towards Christ and serve them. My Christian faith is not just a religion,
but also a daily relationship with Jesus that I take very seriously. It will always impact every part
of my life and why I make the decisions that I do.
While my faith is important to me, it seems that my philosophy is inclusive. Because
many teachings in the Bible point to the fact that only the Bible and Jesus are right there are not
many openings for other perspectives. Though I am set in my faith and beliefs, I do want to be
open to the perspectives of others. On the other hand, I do value and accept other people where
they are. I want to work on being more open to how people view the world. It is important to
remember that my goal is not to change the ideas of others. At the same time even if I do not
agree with someone, especially on the faith level, it does not mean either of us need to change
our ways.
During our retreat I realized everyone in my cohort wants to be open to diversity. It has
been hard for me to admit that I am privileged because of my race and socioeconomic class
because I feel ashamed. I grew up in a highly diverse place so it never occurred to me that I was
of privilege according to a certain social identity. Though I have never been discriminated
against based on my race I do understand what it feels like to be marginalized. A turning point

for me was hearing a story of a fellow cohort member. After hearing the persons honesty I
realized it is ok to say that I am privileged. While there are certain social identities I am
privileged in there are other identities in which I am not. It is good for me to be aware of these
privileges, but I should not be ashamed of who I am. I am very blessed, however, I want to
remain aware of the importance of diversity and the fact that many students will not be secure in
their different social identities.
While I realize this is just the beginning of my philosophy and thoughts on student
affairs, I am excited to further my knowledge and experience in the field of student affairs. The
literature in this field, different interviews with professionals, and examining my strengths and
Christian faith have helped me start my philosophy as a student affairs educator. I know I still
have a lot to learn and I cannot wait to broaden my horizons. It is easy to think of this field as a
career and be content in this for the rest of my life. I never want to make it about being a career.
This field is about the lives of students. It is a ministry. They are the priority as I seek to
enhance my knowledge in student affairs.

References
Brown, R. D. (1972). Student development in tomorrows higher education. Student Personnel
Series, No. 16. Washington, DC: American Personnel and Guidance Association.
American Council on Education. (1937). The student personnel point of view. Washington, DC:
Author. Retrieved from: Sakai