In Medias Res #17-When you hear the gun start running

No dear reader, my office has not descended into an Old West style shoot out. Rather I am preparing for the oncoming marathon that is Spring semester. Is there anyone in Student Affairs who disagrees with this maxim: “Spring is hell”? I always manage to forget this in the fall. Largely because the fall is its own kind of busy: new student orientation, convocation (at some schools), Parent’s Weekend, fall break, Thanksgiving, Club Fair and on and on. Admittedly the Fall is busy. Fall goes in fits and starts. A flurry of activity occurs, and then things calm down for a while as our students get themselves sorted academically and socially. My office isn't quiet, but there are certainly times when it is not bustling. Spring is a sustained marathon of events. Students seem to be more or less comfortable on the whole and suddenly there are four times as many programs in a given week as the fall (and things were not shabby in the fall). Students put on festivals, symposiums, and theme months. It is almost enough to simply sit back and watch in awe. Unfortunately sitting back in awe is not what I am paid for.

Case in point (here’s some math for the quantitative among you):

Fall semester programs my students had planned BEFORE the start of the semester: 0
Fall semester programs my students completed: 11
# of meetings my students had planned BEFORE the start of Fall semester: 1
# of meetings my students held during Fall semester: 36
# of new peer educators trained during Fall semester: 0

Spring semester programs my students have planned BEFORE the start of the semester: 5
Spring semester programs my students traditionally hold: 27 (and counting)
# of meetings my students have planned before the start of the semester: 3
# of new peer educators to be trained in January: 22

Let’s hope that their planning is not exponential. My calendar is already a mess. I’ve cancelled plans to attend one conference in February because there was no way I could swing it (and maintain a modicum of sanity). Despite the oncoming deluge I am definitely looking forward to the spring. The programming is much bigger, and I can only imagine the impact some of my students’ creativity will have on the campus. I feel more confident in my job, and my ability to execute. More importantly I’m finally starting to get the hang of the advisor role. I’ve done it before, but I don’t think I’ve ever done it well. Towards the second half of the fall I felt myself developing a clearer philosophy on advising, and putting those principles to good use.

Most exciting, especially for those long term blog readers: I think I might get to run a candidate search! That’s right, In Medias Res may soon be on the other side of the table at ACPA.