Crystal N. SimpsonPracticum Midterm ReflectionMy practicum environment is very small. I am working on a grant project that was funded by the Journeyman Mini-Grant Program at the institution I work, Georgia College. I am working with my grant partner on the planning aspects of the grant but I will be doing all writing related to the grant. My mentor is the newly appointed Associate Provost for Student Success and Strategic initiatives Dr. Carolyn Denard. I am also working with the ENGAGE Director and Coordinator to make sure I meet all requirements for the grant. The grant is an opportunity to take a program already in place and expand it to further the learning of students by including a community engagement project in freshman seminar. Dr. Denard and I have been meeting bi-weekly to discuss my progress on the grant and to discuss issues with higher education administration. Dr. Denard is pushing me to consider issues in a more personal way. One assignment she gave me was to research three administrative policies and pick out things I connected with so that I can begin to determine what kind of administrator I would like to be. The largest part of the grant was to attend the First Year Experience conference, which allowed me to gather knowledge to help with the project and make connections with administrators all over the country. I would rank my practicum experience as a 5 (outstanding). I am thoroughly enjoying not just working on the grant but also the mentoring I am receiving from Dr. Denard.The career trajectory paper from my portfolio has been helpful. I have been in the program for three years but when I wrote that paper the possibility of ever being able to be an administrator seemed very far away. Our department is moving toward a system that will give opportunity for supervisory experience. It was nice to look back at this paper and remind myself that this is an achievable goal. My mentor also reviewed the paper and it was nice to discuss my career goals with her.The biggest eye opener so far is how quickly things can change in higher education. When talking to others at the First Year Experience conference I would ask how their first year seminar was taught. Most were taught by faculty or combined with a required freshman course. At our institution the students academic advisor teaches seminars for the most part. There are still a handful of seminars taught by a faculty member of the students major discipline. I have taught 2 sections of seminar for psychology majors every fall for six years. Currently there is discussion about standardizing the seminar courses and changing how students are distributed into their seminars. Given this sudden change things are up in the air with if I will be able to have a community engagement piece in my freshman seminar courses in the fall. I know that change is the only constant in higher education but I did not expect a change to occur in freshman seminars. I am currently working to continue finishing the work on the grant I received and complete the requirements for the practicum but ultimately the syllabus created my never get used. I may also not get to do the research portion of the project that I was hoping to pursue next year.Dr. Denard is an invitational leader. One of the assignments she gave me was to explore different administrative philosophies and see what grabbed my interest. She also wanted me to talk to my family and discuss how they make decisions at their jobs. I ended up really liking invitational leadership. My family always made decisions that affected all of us together. I like how invitational leadership models discussed inviting stakeholders to the table and making people fill valued. Dr. Denard recommended a book regarding invitational leadership by Betty Siegel and I hope to read it soon. I am still crafting my administrative philosophy and so far I cannot see any differences or anything in how Dr. Denard leads that I feel I would do differently. I would want to encourage a welcoming and opening environment for my employees the same way I do with my students and Dr. Denard does that as well. She also delegates work which I love. I have worked with supervisors before who do not delegate well and they get overwhelmed and do not have time to supervise. Currently I feel that I have all the knowledge and skills I need to complete my practicum except for the requirements of the activity map and report for the grant. This is information I will gather at a workshop in two weeks. Mostly the only thing that would help me perform my practicum experience better would be to know what changes are coming in Fall for the first year seminar courses and if I will be able to include a community engagement project in my course. Even if I cannot put the materials from the practicum into action I have learned so much. I have been able to network, I have started thinking of educating students in a new way, and I have the opportunity for mentoring and I am learning so much from those meetings.