I haven’t updated my blog in forever! I place the blame squarely on my new job (even though it isn’t really new anymore. Seeing as how I’ve been in the position since March 22, 2016.)

So, I confess–the title of this blog post is a little misleading, since it’s technically been about a year and four months since I started working as an academic advisor.

First week in the new office!

This is my first student affairs position since I graduated from ACU with my master’s and I’m not gonna lie–there’s been a steep learning curve. I don’t know what I thought academic advising was, but I was not prepared. Not one little bit. Thankfully, I work with fantastic people who don’t mind answering my hundreds of questions (or if they do mind, they’re at least nice about it and don’t avoid my calls and emails).

As a nursing advisor, I get to come into work every day and help students achieve their goals. In my short time in this position, I’ve learned quite a bit about the inner-workings of a college campus, nursing school admission criteria, and Texas state core requirements. I’ve also learned that there is no greater panic than that of a nursing application season.

My office after a year!

More importantly, through my daily interactions with students and peers, I’ve learned a lot about myself as a person and as a student affairs practitioner. I am slowly building my identity as an advising professional, and while I’ve held onto a few lessons, I can’t wait to see what’s in store for the next year.

Five Things I’ve Learned in My Year (and four months) as an Academic Advisor

1. There will be tears. My tears. Student tears. Parent tears. At some point, somebody’s gonna cry in my office. Sometimes they’re happy tears because you’re celebrating and sometimes they’re sad tears because someone didn’t get into nursing school. The tears are going to happen and there needs to be Kleenex.
2. There is no tired like orientation tired. Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t know if it’s the heat (because orientation is always in the dead of hellish Texas summer), or if it’s saying the same thing over and over again four hundred times, but I have never experienced the kind of bone-deep weariness that I’ve had at the end of an orientation day.
3. I will never be done answering email. I have one hour blocked off on my calendar every day where I do nothing but answer emails and voicemail messages. And while that time is sometimes co-opted for other things, I’m usually pretty good about protecting that hour. You would think that four hours a week is more than enough to keep the inbox at Inbox Zero, but you would be wrong. It’s like playing Wack-A-Mole. You answer one email and another pops up to take its place.
4. I can’t be right all the time. Over the last year, I have earned several gold medals in Mistaking Making. I’ve gotten really good at saying, “Yeah, I screwed that up. I’m sorry” and more than once, I’ve had to call a student and admit that I messed something up. We usually have a good laugh and move on with life. Thankfully, I haven’t burned down any buildings or done anyone irreparable harm.
5. Water and snacks are important. A few years ago, my doctor told me (much to my surprise) that I was dangerously dehydrated. Since then, I’ve become fastidious about drinking at least 100 ounces of water a day. It’s especially important for me to stray hydrated while I’m advising, because when I don’t, I can’t function properly. My mind gets sluggish, my mouth goes dry, and I can’t make full sentences. The same thing happens when I don’t get my midday snack. I work from eight to seven and if I don’t have a handful of almonds or a yogurt around four o’clock, I turn into a zombie and I can’t make it to the end of my workday.

will – ee – AH – na
koal

Hear Wylijanna pronounce her name.

I graduated on August 7, 2015. I. Graduated. Ahh! My family and friends made the trek to Abilene, Texas so I could walk across the stage and become Wylijanna Cole, M.Ed. I am forever grateful for the experience. I come away with a wealth of knowledge and skills that I would never have been able to learn on my own. I feel ebullient.

I also feel as if I’ve been initiated into a kind of secret club. Most of my friends and coworkers are graduate students (or graduate school survivors). And now, when they talk about the long nights, early mornings, and empty pockets, I can nod in empathy. #word

Though my program was mostly online, working in a university afforded me a ready-made group of like-minded individuals with which to converse. Even if we weren’t studying the same things, my friends willingly read my circuitous, caffeine-fueled drafts and patiently sat while I tried to make meaning from the student development theory texts I was reading. When they went to the library and stayed until midnight, I was there, too. (You haven’t lived until you’ve had a pizza delivered to a university library.) I tagged along to every workshop, presentation, and roundtable discussion, even if it wasn’t geared towards my area of expertise. I’m all the richer for it.

I am forever grateful for my community within community, my tiny pocket of friends and peers within my workplace. Without them, I don’t think I would have made it.