Everyone has had them: moments when things have gone wrong partly because of our own lack of experience or perspective. In this new series of posts, I'm asking members of the UMBC community to reflect on their own 'super human moments.'
Name: Jen Dress
Q: What is your current title (job or student organization position)?
A: Assistant Director Extraordinaire, Office of Student Life
Q: In 12 words or less, what role(s) do you play on campus?
A: I work with amazing students to make magic happen!
Q: What title would you give your Super Human Moment?
A: The first person I ever fired.
Q: What happened?
A: When I was in graduate school, I supervised a very high functioning RA staff. I was a new professional and really came in with a ton of energy and connected with my staff pretty quickly. Through those connections, I found out some information that ultimately led to dismissing one of my employees. I remember struggling to come up with the perfect thing to say "as the boss" and I remember how impersonal it all felt. I felt like there had to be this very tangible gap between the personal and professional. I took a moment that should have been from a place of care and learning and made it very much about the rules. I like rules, they give us structure and a covenant to exist together, but this was a moment that was about the rules and so much more and I missed it. In some way I was protecting myself from the difficulty in all of it by doing what was procedurally the proper thing to do. I believe firmly that we don't so students or ourselves any good by not holding a standard of accountability, but I love my work because it's about learning from mistakes, and successes, and carving a path from there.
Q: How have you applied what you learned?
A: I think I have learned how important it is to both be prepared, but also be present. I like having a playbook and to make a football reference, being able to call an audible is crucial. I can't give students a prescribed playbook or set of rules for every situation that life throws at them, but I like to think that I have helped provide some opportunities to get to know themselves and to know that meeting people where they are at in a moment is crucial. It is often a struggle for me to balance the tasky "to do" with the life in front of me "to do." I am still learning.
Q: Do you have any advice you can pass along to others?
A: Be here now. I think knowing that you are who you are and that comes out in all the roles in your life is really important. We all have to play different roles at different moments in our lives, but knowing who we are and how those roles impact us is very important.