Friday, October 31, 2008

Shadow

On Thursday I shadowed my mentor Lasana Hotep from 11:30am until 9:00pm. Yesterday was a long day for him since one of the key MSS organizations was having a speaker come to give a presentation on Manhood and Masculinity. The speakers name is Amon Rashidi. Lasana let me come in at 11:30 because the work that he does at the start of the day, is not very glamorous or anything like that. Also, some is supposed to be in confidence because his job position of Student Success Coordinator also has like a mentoring aspect related to basically any problem that a student has. His first line of work in the day is to check his phone and email and prioritize what messages he received are important, he said that he has around 1800 emails in his inbox. Next he checks and sees what all the upcoming programs are that are being hosted that week by the cornerstone organizations in MSS. Then he has a Student Success Coordinator Check list with other responsibilities that he has also. The list looks like this:

FACILITATE- Sankofa, MSS Internship, Canon Leadership, Vision for Black Men, BAC Convocation

ADVISING- BAC, Stars

COMMITTEES- North Neighborhood (residence halls), Advantage Success Program

MENTORING- NAAP Scholars, HMDP, ACSF

(For info on any of these programs you can check the MSS WEBSITE)

His current projects as of yesterday, besides hosting the speaker that arrived that day, are Black History Month and he is trying to make a Hip Hop Chess Federation.

What I learned from just by looking at what all he is in charge of is that first, it takes an in depth planner to be in a position like that. He has so many different programs that he is in charge of that, getting behind would make it physically impossible to be successful. What happened after I was in his office for a few minutes we talked for a few minutes and he asked about some of my situations that I have been going through and what the results were. I am sure that it was an interesting story to hear because it has been a crazy journey to end up being here this November, compared to where I was last November. This was not only personal, but it would also help him in the future if he had another student go through anything similar to what I have been through, he will be able to assist that person, just by listening to what my story was. Other students came into the office while he was still telling me what all he does on a normal day. Some students came in to report about the meeting regarding the BAC Float in homecoming and he told them to find out the details with the vehicle that they are going to get, the insurance, if they are getting candy it has to be approved, and to rent a vehicle they will have to make the company they are renting from become an approved vendor for ASU. He also took the opportunity to give us some advice as members of Greek organizations because everyone in the room was in a Historically Black Greek Letter Organization. Then he planned a follow up meeting for next week. Around noon, we went to pick up the speaker for an event being hosted by African American Men of ASU (AAMASU), which is one of the core organizations of the MSS. After picking him up we went to lunch. At lunch it was Lasana, Nick, the AAMASU coordinator, Amon, the Speaker and AJ, the director of MSS. The discussion at the table was interesting and ranged from politics, to making black institutions for youth, youth intervention programs and the problems and the results and progress made by the programs. Before we were done AJ, the director of MSS, had to leave a little early to meet with the Dean of Students. After eating lunch, we went to the speaker’s hotel and checked him in; Nick gave him the schedule for the event and some other literature for him to keep about the AAMASU organization. Later he took time to go home and get ready and I went my separate way until the event, he brought the speaker in the room 30 minutes early and the event started promptly at 7pm.

What I learned from shadowing Lasana is that I have a lot of work to be able to handle the level of responsibility that he handles. He is responsible for so many different organizations at the same time. To go more in depth, he is the teaches the internship class on Wednesdays as well as advise us on our projects and programs. He facilitated the meeting for Visions of Black Men on Monday, two hours from 6pm to 8pm. He is on top of the BAC float and events. He always has time to talk to me or find a way to help me out when I have a situation, and that’s just me. There are plenty of other students as well that seek his advice and assistance, all while he is still responsible for the 1800 emails and Student Success Coordinator Checklist. The way that he is responsible for so much is similar to the military, because I will continue to be responsible for more than more. First we are in charge of a platoon, then a company, battalion and some variations in between. Then, similarly I will be working to accomplish the mission that my commander gives to me, helping and assisting my soldiers with anything that may be hindering them from being able to do or focus on our mission. Being in charge of that much at first sight seems like it would be overwhelming especially keeping in mind that other things come up that you are still responsible for concurrently with your spelled out duties. Also, taking care of the presenter is similar to what we will have to do when a commanding officer or other VIP will come from another unit to visit for a ceremony or whatever the occasion may be. When Lasana picked up Amon, there was no question about, where we were going to eat, and also we did not go to McDonald’s. He also did a lot of mentoring and advising work with students yesterday, those are things that I will have to do for my soldier’s when they start messing up and I will have to help them with projects that they are working on or help them figure out how to fix their life so that they can work better for me. His skills at relationship building assist a great deal with being able to do the mentoring and advising honestly and effectively, without becoming the “A**hole”, so that is definitely a skill set that I observed yesterday that I will try to improve myself.

1 comment:

BIS401 Dr. Hirshorn said...

Hi Kevin,
I am glad that you seem to be back on track with things and overcoming your problems. I think that you have a lot to offer the world -so it is important for you to learn to balance your time and not let things get in the way of achieving your goals -like graduation.

It sounds like Lasana is a good mentor for you and that you are learning a lot from him and also that he is taking a personal interest in helping you.