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As with many people I am sure, this was the first class I took in this degree program. The assignment was to go through and lay out my responsibilities. The objective was to deepen one's understanding of their role, and how they were to serve those around them. It was an assignment that really made me evaluate what I was aiming to accomplish with this degree, as I am not, nor do I ever expect to be a counselor. The easy answer would have been to approach it from the standpoint of a counselor, but I did not want to do that, so I went and delved deep into how I actually plan to apply what I have learned without being a counselor. From this, I was able to gain a lot of perspective and this assignment more than any other really set the path that I would follow over the next two years as I progressed through this program. I have referred back to this assignment a couple of times both for the references I included, and the resources I said I would be able to turn to when trying to help my employees.

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This was one of the first classes I took in this program, and I was still trying to learn the basics, so it was incredibly beneficial for me. The assignment was to develop a group counseling session from start to finish, designed around a real world concern. I had to consider such things as whether or not informed consent was needed, how strict the confidentiality needed to be for the participants, and I had to delve into ethical requirements and counseling principles. I thoroughly enjoyed this class and this assignment in particular due to the real world applicability of it all.

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This was a really unique assignment, because while it fell within the scope of individual counseling, and working to counsel others, it was very introspective. The objective was to create a padlet that revolved around how I take care of myself. This assignment could have come within any of the classes, and it forced me to take a step back and evaluate what I do for self-care, or rather what I should be doing. It was a challenging assignment for me as self-care is something I have never been good at, and I had to come to terms with that. To approach it, I had to reflect back on a time in my life where I was better at it, and think about what was different and how I could do better. Self-care is still something I am not great at and need to do better with, and looking back at this was a good wake up call on that.

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This class was probably the one I learned the most in throughout the whole program. I loved learning about the various counseling methods and theories behind them, and when doing this assignment, I had to dive deep into a theory of my choice. I chose Person-Centered Therapy, I chose this because it is the most empathic theory that I found, and is all about getting to know the person and the main theorist, Carl Rogers just seemed to love his clients so much and that really stood out to me. While I am not, and likely never will be a counselor, I do deeply love those I have the privilege of serving around, and related a lot to his methods and his deep desire to help those around him. The objective was to create a presentation that could be used to teach someone about the counseling theory who previously knew nothing about it, and considering that when I started the assignment, I knew nothing about it, that was an easy perspective to take!

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Social and Cultural Influences, EDG 6301

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Social and Cultural Influences, EDG 6301

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For this class, we had to examine where we came from, and how the culture and environment we were raised in has affected us. For this assignment in particular, the objective was to lay out certain facts about how we were raised and some of the inherent biases we have as a result. I enjoyed it because it was again an introspective assignment, that allowed me to examine where I am at, how I got here, and where I would like to go. While it was not an explicit part of the assignment, I ended up setting some personal goals to get to where I want to be as a result of the self analysis I did for this assignment. I have continued to progress on these goals, and for that I am grateful for this assignment and what it asked of me.

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This course was my first over the halfway point. I will be honest, it was the class I felt was the least relevant for me. Having completed my bachelor's degree, I knew how to research, and then where I did not take this class until more than halfway through this degree program, I again felt like if I did not already know how to conduct research, I would not have made it to this point. With that, the most in depth assignment I did was a write-up on research fundamentals. It forced me to dive in and look at various aspects of research. The objective was to lay out different methods of gathering data, of analyzing it, the various components of a professional research study, and more. While I did not feel like I learned a lot from this assignment, it is a good one that could serve to establish a baseline understanding of the various aspects of research, and had I taken it earlier in the program I may have felt it was more applicable, but it still feels more like an undergraduate course all around.

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This assignment was to interview two people from different cultures than myself, and to summarize some of the highlights. This was the most interesting assignment in the program for me. I grew up in a small town with very few minorities, and had very little exposure to other cultures and peoples. Since that time, I have lived abroad, and in four different states, so I have far more exposure to different cultures, but just being around them is very different than sitting down and talking about their experiences. I spent a long time identifying questions for the interviews, and then asked follow up questions. I loved finding the similarities, but was also saddened to hear about trials I could not relate to. It opened my eyes to struggles people may be facing without ever saying a word. This assignment changed my perspective on many things.

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Thanks for everything!

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Introduction to Crisis, Trauma, and Mental Health Concerns, EDG 6332

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Introduction to Crisis, Trauma, and Mental Health Concerns, EDG 6332

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This was a group assignment in the class, and the objective was to talk through bullying and build a plan to identify and address bullying in a school environment. I normally hate group assignments, and feel they rarely flow well. For this assignment, one of the other group members decided rather than splitting things in three and everyone doing their portion and then just combining everything, that everyone should contribute to every part of it. I was not thrilled about this at first as it sounded like more work for everyone, but in the end it resulted in all of us learning and collaborating far more than we normally would have. It went very well, and I ended up enjoying it far more than any other group project. It was nice to see other perspectives on the assignment.

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Crisis Prevention and Threat Assessment for Bullying

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Introduction to School and Community Counseling, EDG 6322

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Introduction to School and Community Counseling, EDG 6322

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This whole class was all about getting to know your community, and its needs. The objective was to identify a major need in your city, and how your organization could help to address it. It was very interesting to see a different side of the community. In San Antonio, where I was living at the time, housing has become incredibly unaffordable for many people, and the amount of homeless people and families has risen significantly in recent years. With that, housing was the need I felt was most pressing and that my Air Force squadron could potentially help with. The squadron already volunteers sporadically with Habitat for Humanity, so it was not much of a stretch to propose expanding and formalizing that relationship to contribute more. Learning about how simple it really would be to help the community in a major and meaningful way was interesting. It certainly made me want to do more.