Running head: PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY STATEMENT 1PERSONAL PHILOSOPY STATEMENT 5

Personal Philosophy StatementJonathan S. MerrillLoyola University Chicago

As a graduate assistant in the Department of Residence Life, our theme this year for professional development has been defining our professional brand. The pursuit of defining how I want to be perceived as a student affairs professional, as well as how I want to interact with students, strongly intersects with creating a personal philosophy statement. In my experience, professionals have worked with me in a variety of unique ways matching their personality and values. However, there was one constant: they all worked with me holistically. In addition to my responsibilities as a student leader, they were concerned with my personal, academic, and emotional wellbeing. In the process of developing my professional brand, I was tasked with boiling it down into three words. After much reflection, my professional brand and philosophy statement consists of three parts: authenticity, respect, and connection. With the ultimate focus being holistically centered on my students; through being authentic, establishing respect, and making connections, I will work to help students empower themselves and develop. Loyalty and respect are my two most important values. These values manifest daily in my interactions with people. As a student affairs professional, I want to use respect as a foundation for all of my relationships. When working with past professionals, after establishing a relationship based on mutual respect, we were able to communicate more authentically and naturally. One byproduct of this respect based relationship was trust. Due to this mutual trust, I was then able to develop and challenge myself within the safety of that relationship. In my opinion, forming a relationship based on respect creates a bond between equals instead of creating a horizontal hierarchy. My most successful and beneficial relationships with professionals were ones where I was treated as equal. It was because I respected them, and therefore understood that they did hold positions above me, that we were able to treat one another as equal. When interacting with students, I want to minimize hierarchical structures in order to create a space of mutual learning. As I grow as a professional, I need to constantly remember that each new student will see the world differently and I can gain a new perspective on the world from them. At the same time, students can gain new perspectives from me. This reciprocal relationship reflects what Freire (2000) describes as problem-posing education. In this relationship we continually transform our perceptions and thoughts. Freire (2000) also expounds upon the importance of reflection in his work Pedagogy of the oppressed. I view reflection as the best route towards authenticity. As previously alluded to, the process of education continues long after formal education ceases. Similarly, the journey of self-discovery never really ends. Every day, my identities shape the way I interact and perceive my environment. These same identities have been developed throughout my lifetime and influence my unconscious processes. Since my daily activities are so greatly influenced by these identities; I believe that it is my responsibility to continuously explore and question these identities so that I am able to understand my daily choices. For example, is it a coincidence that I associate myself with many who share my race or am I unconsciously seeking them out? In the pursuit of being my most authentic self, I also uncover biases that may cloud my lens. Biases only serve to potentially hinder my relationships with students. As such, the process of being authentic will allow me to equitably work with students. I recognize that students will also be entering higher education with their own assumptions and biases. In response, I want to encourage students to also be their most authentic selves in our interactions. By doing so, I can challenge students to also critically reflect on how they see the world and thus discover their unconscious motives. I view being authentic as my entry into social justice work with students. Also, by basing relationships in respect; I want to create environments of mutual learning. In practice, the question of how I achieve these two processes arise. I believe that I can create relationships based on respect and encourage students to be their most authentic selves through making connections. Through seeking out connections, I can find a place where we both meet eye to eye. From this point I am able to establish respect and trust. By connecting students with my personal development, I can encourage them to begin questioning how they see their world. I see this last quality as being the glue that binds my professional brand together. In conclusion, the three central elements of my personal philosophy are authenticity, respect, and connection. My cohesive statement is as follows. As a student affairs professional, always focused on the holistic development of my students, I want to strive to authentically engage them. This is achieved through seeking out connections and thus developing relationships based on mutual respect and trust. All of this is ultimately necessary for me to empower my students to challenge the way they see themselves and interact with the world.

Reference ListFreire, P. (2000). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Bloomsbury Academic.