Talking Stick - May/June 2015 - 63

employed, but also to the noise, late
night phone calls, and the norm of
working lots of extra hours.
I think another huge way the
boarding school experience impacted
me was realizing that students have
so much going on in their lives. At
the middle school, they had classes,
sports, and free time, but, as the dorm
parent, I saw students missing home,
struggling with family issues from afar,
and learning how to make friends. As
I transitioned to working with college
students, I really understood how much
students really do have going on in
their lives and how much live-in staff
can positively impact students' lives.
When we take the time to really connect
with a student and just listen, we make
a huge difference.

Walsh: My lessons and takeaways
from my experience are endless.
Participating in Semester at Sea was
the best decision I have made in both
my personal life and professional
career. When I take time to consider
how I apply this experience to my
current practice at my land-based
institution, the most impactful lessons
focus around crisis management,
problem solving, and community
awareness.
While on call during my voyage
I encountered incidents that I never
thought I would ever come across in
my career. These incidents required
me to find my crisis management
toolkit from my years in residence life,
while also being flexible in finding a
remedy that suited a ship environment
and matched local law if it occurred
in port. These on-call experiences
have provided me with a larger crisis
management toolkit that I apply on
my land-based campus and the ability
to remain calm during incidents on
campus, as my perspective has been
vastly expanded by Semester at Sea.
During our time on board, we
offer programming and student
support similar to what is offered on

our land-based campuses, but our
access to resources is significantly
less. You are unable to run out to
grab supplies from your local store or
share resources with a campus partner
down the hall. What you have on
board when you leave for the voyage is
what you have to work with until the
voyage comes to an end. In my role
at my land-based institution I find I
am able to stretch resources and find
unique remedies for programs and
student support that I was not able
to before my voyage. This newfound
problem solving has aided in my
budget management, student and
professional staff coaching, and
concept development.

Sandoval: I learned to think bigger,
beyond my own perspectives and
experience. I have also become more
comfortable with challenges and
taking myself out of my comfort
zone. In my land-based job, I now
encourage students to look into any
study abroad opportunity because
I missed that as an undergraduate
and had to wait to experience this
as a professional. Semester at Sea
has given me perspective that I use
on a daily basis; most of the student
concerns I experienced on the ship
in a small space make issues on my
land campus slightly easier to handle,
knowing the scope of resources
available on my land campus. I also
take any opportunity I have to talk
about Semester at Sea to other student
affairs professionals. I have presented
about my experiences at WACUHO, as
a professional development opportunity
at my land-based campus, and any
time an individual wants to pick my
brain about Semester at Sea. Semester
at Sea continues to be one of the best
decisions I made and has given me
lifelong friends and connections that I
will carry with me forever.
Smith: I have learned patience,
resilience, and grace. Nothing is more
important than allowing folks to be

human. That means recognizing that
we're all on a journey somewhere,
and we won't always do it well, and we
may sometimes hurt another human,
and we can still call on one another to
do more, do better. Myopic thinking
will stifle everyone. Relationships and
collaboration (not cooperation) are
at the heart of learning for both the
teacher and the student.

Gallagher: Habib University is a
brand new liberal arts school in
Karachi, Pakistan. I have been brought
on board to help this university build
a robust student life program. Most
colleges and universities in Pakistan
(or even Southeast Asia) have no
student lifestyle programming or staff.
This is huge.
How does this tie to my
experiences at Linden Hill School? I
think the first live-in experience I had
taught me to be flexible, be creative,
think on my feet, and look for ways to
explain the unexplainable. Above all, I
value asking the student what is going
on outside of the university. I think
really taking the time to understand
the life our students have outside of
the institution is crucial.

Walsh: One of the largest lessons
I took away from my experience is
the importance of community and
community development through an
international lens. Due to the number
of communities I became a part of and
newfound respect for my land-based
communities during my absence and
exposure to community development
styles around the world, I find myself
more focused on our communities on
campus. I consider the impact of our
programming and support structures
on the various community groups on
campus in ways that I had not before
and work hard to ensure that we
consider as many community groups
and identity groups as possible as we
work to facilitate, enhance, and build
programs on campus. 
MAY + JUNE 2015

63
Talking Stick - May/June 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Talking Stick - May/June 2015
