My last week here at CSU has finally arrived and it is a bitter sweet feeling. This is the first times that I've been away from home for more than a month and have not missed home. Of course, I'm looking forward to going back home for a bit. The reality is that this is also my last year in Collge when I return to Minnesota.
I began my day working on reports for conference services. I then moved on to calculating evaluations on pizzas and documenting them for the vendor. Later in the afternoon I met Peter, one of the Directors. Ironically, he had applied for a job in Minnesota at the College of Saint Benedict, just 3 years ago.
I must say that I am blown away by the staff's commitment to the students here at CSU. I know that it is an expectation that colleges and universities cater to the needs of students but here at CSU you see it in action. I learnt that this was not Peter's first experience in collegiate dining services and his opinion was that it was the students that made the campus.
Based on the students' background, socioeconomic status or whether or not they were first generation students would impact their experiences on campus and interactions with other students and faculty. The students here at CSU made it easy for the staff to connect with them and understand their needs.
Tuesday:
I started off my day with Becky discussing the budgeting process, financial statements and the relationship between a unit's revenue and expense reports and performance. Food costs, distribution of labour, utilities fees, supplies and services, among other factors all affect a dining hall's expenses. Any funds generated by the dining halls (after expenses have been covered) are used for the development of the housing and dining halls. This explains the constant construction going on here at CSU. The dining halls are doing pretty well.
Later in the afternoon, I met with Brittney to discuss evaluation processes for state-classified employees, hourly employees and administrative professional employees. As expected, evaluations for the various types of employees are conducted differently. Good evaluations all result in financial compensation for improved skills and/or work ethic. However, poor evaluations are treated differently depending on the classification - as it should be.
Wednesday:
I spent a portion of the morning going over my end of internship presentation. Later, Lori and I headed out to visit the Mishawaka. I used the rest of the day as before - preparing for the presentation!
Thursday:
The big day finally came.! As mentioned in one of my earlier posts, I enjoy one-on-one conversations but public speaking is one of my weaker areas. I have a tendency to speak quickly and this can result in me losing the attention of my audience.
I went in early (with help from Hannah) and met this beautiful cake prepared by the bakeshop - just for me! It was really yummy! I truly appreciate the team's efforts to surprise we with a farewell cake. I will surely miss them all.
During my presentation, we ran into a few bugs with IT but at the end of the day I enjoyed talking as I had my audience's attention and I was able to control the speed of my speech. I was pleased with the presentation of my speech.
The past two months have been an awesome experience both for my education and career, as well as personal development. I am also grateful for the exposure to various cultures and social atmospheres (civil and working) that I was exposed to.
I've found the team very supportive and open to freedom of expression. Even if they don't personally subscribe to an individual's lifestyle or belief, they show respect and allow persons to express themselves freely within the boundaries that have been set for all. Finally, A lot of times we think people may not "doing their best" and its our moral duty to "save" them. I'm not saying we should allow our friends to drink themselves to their death but allowing people to be themselves may not be such a bad idea.
It was amazing to see so many people working for the university with sleeves of tattoos and loc'd hair. This is truly diversity in action.
Working with the CSU Residential Dining Service team was a wonderful and rewarding experience and I definitely plan to visit Fort Collins again.
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