Reflections

I faced numerous personal difficulties both in anticipation of and while applying for the opportunity to study Public Administration at Rutgers-Newark School of Public Affairs and Administration.

 

First and foremost, it is often very difficult for me to embrace change. I also spent most of my career as a nonprofit professional feeling like I was an imposter, something that followed me while I applied to graduate school. It had also been quite a while since I had been in the classroom. What if I forgot how to be a student? Would my experience in graduate school mirror the tumultuous time I had as an undergraduate? These anxieties and others in a similar vein continued to haunt me as I approached my first semester.

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Completing my capstone portfolio project allowed me to compare where I started when I first began school and how my career as a graduate student is ending. As I looked back at the range of my schoolwork for my portfolio, however, I was struck by how misplaced those anxieties were. Overall, I am grateful for the capstone portfolio project for allowing me to set aside my earlier worries in favor of resilience and self-confidence. I hope to carry this sense of personal growth into the next stage of my professional life.