On the 14th of May, my 2nd day in Colorado, I took a wrong turn on my longboard and hurdled 35MPH down a steep hill. The road ended in a sharp right turn. Beyond the road was a gravel parking lot. After striking the curb, I slid on my front side for 10 feet on the rocks, pebbles, and sand. I had been wearing a helmet, but my left knee had a massive laceration. I called my supervisor and she drove me to the local emergency room. This led to a month-and-a-half recovery process. My mobility started from each step being so painful I would become light-headed, to an atrophy of the muscles in my knee making my leg perpetually straight. During recovery, I had to be moved to a disability-accessible apartment on campus. I used two mobility aids and two different braces. I have attended physical therapy, a wound care specialist, and three separate emergency room visits. 

While at the time of writing, I am mostly recovered, I still have yet to gain the strength and muscle density I had before the injury. The rest of my summer will be spent slowly building my strength to walk without pain. There were times when I would experience setbacks and would think about quitting the whole practicum since I just didn't have the capacity, but I am reminded that this is my only housing, job, and food option at the moment and it would mean quitting my master's degree halfway through. The medical expenses and Uber rides necessary to ensure I made a recovery will continue to challenge my ability to support myself independently. Because of Workday-related challenges, I did not start work until the 30th of May. Since then I have yet to be paid because I had failed to submit my timecard on time, a mistake a fellow intern also made. 

My practicum provides high-quality housing and meal plans so those needs have been met. Socially I had been completely isolated for two weeks before making a close friend who I spend two days a week with now <3. My Dungeons & Dragons campaign that I play with off-campus locals has been a major support as an event to look forward to and a hobby to put creative energies into. The campaign takes place on a universal parallel Mars which inspired me to play Red Faction Guerrilla.  I have mostly given up on enjoying what Denver has to offer because of my limited ability to access those spaces. Stephenie Meyer's Twilight Saga audiobooks provide a deep sense of comfort. Bella’s injury-prone character trait is one I had never heard of but found funnier and funnier as she would proceed to replicate the injuries I have sustained recently and in the past. The more depressing songs from the Twilight films made their way onto my Colorado playlist, mixing with the Hozier and folk country well. At the time of writing, I am halfway through Eclipse. 

My classes had simple reading and assignments for me to complete, but because of my lack of structure to my days and lack of ability to leave my living space made it an extreme challenge. I was able to complete my assignments with me being noticeably late on the first assignment for each class. Even this blog is late because I was supposed to maintain a journal of my time at Mines. The additional items I have featured on the website are things that I had wanted to get around to. In this blog, I hope to capture the developments I am making in myself as a higher education professional. This injury was just so unfortunate that it feels like it has reverberated through every aspect of the practicum experience. 

The Colorado School of Mines

‘Mines’ is a 4 year, public, engineering,  1R research university that serves 7000 undergrad and graduate students on average each year. Their prestigious engineering classes work on real industry problems through projects and assignments. Founded in 1874 as a state institution, during a massive gold rush (Hence the surrounding township being called “Golden”), when Colorado went from being a territory to the 38th state. Historically and to this day the university has had a major role in State, Federal, and leading industry operations of major pieces of the infrastructure of the United States. Corporations like Lockheed Martin, Exxon, and IBM, partner with the institution and play a significant role in shaping the educational outcomes of students. Government departments like NASA, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Department of Interior, and the FBI all are active participants in the programmatic operations of the campus. All of this powerful attention has led to one of the most robustly funded non-Ivy League schools I am aware of. The campus frequently facilitates important conferences that bring some of the greatest minds in engineering to come to engage with the student population as professionals.

The Division of Student Affairs at Mines has seen considerable growth as most offices have added multiple positions over the past four years. Most buildings on campus are new, having been built after 2015. The Residence Life Office where I work, facilitates all of the expected duties of a housing office. The office itself is exceedingly well run. It feels rare to see a housing office that isn't on fire. This is their first year having ACHO-I interns. I was brought onboard with two other Masters in Higher Ed who come from equally diverse experiences. I am on the Residence Education team which is responsible for meeting the programmatic needs of housing operations. This sees me supervising the front desk workers for our open residence halls for the summer. My responsibilities also include preparing for fall move-in training, operational updates, and generally assisting in the organization pieces of housing work.

Since starting here is a small list of projects I have either completed or am working on:

• Desk Assistants (DA) Outlook Calendar system.

• Meeting with various institutional partners to understand their office operations. 

• Student Government Navigating Conflict Presentation.

• Documenting the desk operations to be referenced in future projects related to desks. 

• RA resource room documentation. 

• DA, RA, DD fall training planning.

Originally I had selected three NASPA Competencies I wanted to work on: Human Resources, Policy & Governance, and Leadership. After 1 month It feels like I have a full understanding of my role but it's less critical than I had anticipated. This is not a disappointment as I don't think I could have sustained more demanding work with my recovery process. But I will need to dig deep to ensure I can find ways to work on my Competencies.