Natasha Harris participated in the Technology Leadership and Innovation Master of Science Weekend degree program from 2013 to 2015. She now holds the assistant director position for the Science Diversity Office at Purdue University.
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Working with young adults in higher education, you do your best to encourage them to strive for the best and never give up on learning. At some point, I recognized that I was not taking my own advice, and that I had become complacent in my supportive role. Desiring to advance in my career I realized that I needed to do something for myself to move up.
I decided to pursue a degree through ProSTAR because the program included online and classroom experience. This was vital for me because I work full-time and could only attend classes on the weekends. The portfolio project was also very beneficial. It allowed us to show on our journey and merge all the lessons that we learned.
Finding commonalities between the other people in my program helped to strengthen the bond we would have as a group. Realizing what we had in common led to developing our own community/village. Our cohort developed a learning community of liked-minded people who share a passion of learning and growth. Moving through this program I realized that the faculty did so much more than share with us instructions for career success.
There are several points of the program that I would like to highlight, but first and foremost, I want to take the time to appreciate the faculty and staff at ProSTAR. These men and women developed an atmosphere of security, openness, and creativity. The faculty never asked us to disclose anything that they were not willing to share themselves. They allowed students to customize and explore projects that were directly related to our work or professional area. Having the projects correlate to a professional area of interest was the best way to get me excited it.The staff laughed with us, shared joys, and even helped play a prank or two on the faculty. They made us feel that we could accomplish our goals and have fun while doing so.
A second important item that I would like to point out are the team projects. They allowed us to engage with each other and share ideas. Working with people who brought a different viewpoint or ability was interesting and fun. Our projects ranged from favorite food, maintenance of ethnic hair, to air drones. It was never a dull class and the presentations were entertaining to say the least.
Lastly, I really enjoyed the relationships that all the students shared. Regardless if we were in the Leadership Innovation cohort or Information Technology group, we all shared and bonded together. I would speak with students who were on a different track than I and talk about our classes, home life, work life, and sometimes silly things. But what I really enjoyed was that everybody was willing to help each other out if you were experiencing difficulties. There was not a single moment when I felt alone in the program.
Reflecting on what was and what is now, I can only look back and smile at what I have accomplished. My piece of advice to those thinking about going back to graduate school is simple: Do it. Be willing to leave your comfort zone. Continuing to wish and dream about a better life will never happen if you won’t do what is necessary to change your circumstances. Always commit yourself to joy and never quit when you experience a setback or frustration. Success is just around the corner.