Kayla Polanco
Oklahoma State University

Please provide a statement of your personal views on the role and contributions of collegiate recreation in higher education. In your response, describe how collegiate recreation has influenced your development.

Collegiate recreation is an essential part of the student experience during college. College is a transitional period for many young adults, so providing substitutive leisure to students can ease anxieties that accompany change and help them become comfortable in their new environment. Although collegiate recreation may not fill the void of high school or extracurricular activities, it can give experiences that induce the same emotions as those activities. As both a participant and an employee of collegiate recreation throughout my undergraduate and graduate experience, it’s role in my development has evolved. As a freshman, working for intramural sports was an opportunity to meet people outside of my classes and pushed me to interact with students who were older, more experienced, and had different backgrounds than I had. Not only was that humbling, but also introduced me to the intricacies of student experiences and how they differ. After moving up through the ranks and having a significant leadership role at Texas A&M, campus recreation became paramount to my future. The field pushed me to be better at adapting and understanding the impacts small acts and programs can have on a struggling student.

Now, as a Graduate Assistant, I see the growth that student employees go through and how it contributes to their personal growth and transition into adulthood. This position has helped me to understand how the skills learned in a simple college job can result in significant advantages for a graduating student. In my current role, campus recreation is continuing to change and develop the ways that I help students reach their goals while also ensuring they enjoy their college experience. One of the biggest reasons I chose to continue in this field is because there is rarely a day that goes by without a new challenge that ensures that I am never stagnant and am always growing.

Within the context of the NIRSA Strategic Plan, what area/item would you say is a major issue students face today? How would you address this issue during your term?

In context of the Strategic Plan, I believe that students today are struggling with balancing overall wellness. Conversations in the past few years about mental health and the different components of wellbeing have been a positive shift, however balancing those things with being professional and maintaining job and class performance can be difficult. For example, many students need to work for their housing, food, tuition, and other payments. If they are feeling unwell and cannot or should not go to work, they often must decide if they are feeling “bad enough” for it to be worth losing that night’s paycheck. Ultimately there is no easy answer to that dilemma, but I believe we can show students how to do preventative care for themselves to lessen the frequency of the issue. During my term, I would like to produce a Preventative Wellness resource for students. This would teach them skills about how to do small wellness acts, self-evaluate, and better understand their own signs and symptoms to prevent pileup and have less bad days. Unfortunately, students with economic insecurity oftentimes do not have the option to take a day off and this would help them better manage their well-being. I believe this would equip students to better achieve success in college regardless of their individual situation.

Describe your contributions to NIRSA (i.e. presentations, volunteering, previous leadership roles, etc.) and identify how your involvement and experiences qualify you to advocate for and serve the students of the Association.

My contributions to NIRSA are primarily concentrated in the last 6 months. This year I am serving as the Oklahoma State Student Leader where I have been able to gain a better understanding of the NIRSA students I represent. Being a member of the Student Lead on Committee for the Region IV Conference allowed me to play a direct role in developing current students at the conference. I was given the opportunity to lead the mock interview session of the conference where students and pro-staff worked together to gain interview skills through repetition, feedback, and immediate implementation. Additionally, I presented at both the Kansas State Workshop and the Region IV Conference. In Kansas I co-presented with the Kansas State Leader (Bailey Emig) about the foundations of NIRSA in a NIRSA 101 presentation. There we introduced students to the values of NIRSA as well as the benefits to them and their programs to getting involved.

At the Region IV Conference, I presented a Student Lead On topic of Navigating the Conference. In this presentation I taught students who were attending their first conference how to get the most out of their experience. Additionally, I spoke on the benefits of a GAship and how I have transitioned from student supervisor to Graduate Assistant. This presentation also included interactive pieces that allowed students to get to know one another prior to taking on the rest of the conference.

My most recent NIRSA leadership role was serving as the Host Director of Officials for the National Flag Football Tournament. This was a particularly unique experience that I was lucky to have at OSU. In my role, I oversaw the operations of the officials and the officials committee and ensured that they had all the necessary resources to have a successful tournament. This role required preparations beginning in May when I arrived at OSU and all throughout the semester. The OSU Competitive Sports team and the NIRSA lead team worked together for countless hours to coordinate the tournament and resulted in a great experience for staff and participants alike.

These experiences qualify me to serve as an advocate for the NIRSA students because of the diversity of the experiences. Although there are many who have been a part of more tournaments than I have or presented at more conferences, I am proud to have been a part of both this past semester, and plan to continue embracing all aspects of NIRSA development opportunities. My variety of experiences will help me better guide the students to events that will help them grow in their desired areas. Also, as a student representative, being involved in many avenues of NIRSA will give me more opportunities to meet and connect with students that have different interests and ensure that I am accurately advocating for students of all areas of NIRSA.

The Student Leadership Team focuses on student development and Student Member recruitment and retention. What skills, talents, and perspectives would you bring to the Student Leadership Team that would contribute to this focus?

As a part of the Student Leadership Team, I can bring innovation and persistence. I will contribute to the recruitment and retention of students by having myself and my team be visible and available. Prior to becoming involved as a State Student Leader, I was not aware of many of the opportunities being a student member could bring. Getting information to students who are not members is not a small challenge, however incentive based programs can make a large difference. A semesterly goal, for example, of a student or pro-staff recruiting 10 new members and then getting their membership fee waived for the next year could make a huge impact on both recruitment and retention. I also understand that as with any new idea or implementation there is a chance of failure and an equal chance of delayed success. These things will not discourage me from continuing to try and will instead encourage me to reevaluate our method and try again.

As for student development, I can bring the perspective of an economically insecure student who wants to be more involved but cannot afford to have only a campus recreation job. This is a struggle many students encounter, and it prevented me from choosing this career path for many years. Additionally, I am not afraid of public speaking and enjoy every opportunity to present to any size group. So, if there is a development topic that would be best delivered by a student at a conference, I would be proud to do so and understand the significance of that role. This skill will allow me to be more hands on with getting students information through different avenues.

Describe your leadership style. How will it benefit you and the rest of the Student Leadership Team?

As a leader, I prioritize open and honest communication as the foundation of my team. I enjoy giving others an opportunity to succeed while also ensuring that the quality is to the standard I expect. I ensure this by being clear with expectations and having regular check-ins about their progress through a new task. After having worked with the same individual on a few projects, the frequency of the check-ins can be decreased to perhaps not needing them at all if they are confident in their ability to complete the task. With students particularly, it is important to always consider their additional commitments and know that last minute problems can arise. Therefore, keeping up with their progress is paramount so if needed I can step in and help so that they can grow through the experience while also being able to prioritize their education, family, etc. When leading my peers rather than students, trust and conversation are still my priorities but I go about them differently. Trust among peers means that if I am leading a group, they are each able, confident, and completing their assignments unless I am told otherwise. With this method it is important to always have follow-up conversations to see what went well and what could be done better in the future. That conversation is also a time for them to give me feedback about their experience and how I could better serve them in the future.

Ultimately everyone likes to be led differently, and regardless of my preferred leadership style it is most important to be adaptable to those who I am leading. If what I am doing is not working for them, then I need to understand why it is not working and create a plan, together with the team, to lead them better. I firmly believe that any good leader is quick to ask for criticism, and slow to seek praise. Additionally, a leader is only as effective as their least committed member, so sometimes effort must be devoted to figuring out that person’s motivations or what is holding them back to get the team to their potential. Finally, as a leader I understand that the achievements of the team are always owned by the team, not the individual. Any success from the team cannot be attributed to a personal achievement and no project should ever be in the interest of my personal achievements or title.

As a member of the Student Leadership Team, you have the opportunity to leave a lasting impact on the field of collegiate recreation. However, we acknowledge and respect that you are a student first. Explain your strategies for maintaining a healthy balance between your various roles (student, volunteer, athlete, employee, etc.).

To maintain my roles and commitments, first I make an active effort to stay organized within my calendars, to-do lists, and day-to-day responsibilities. I designate time each week for exclusively schoolwork to ensure I do not fall behind in my studies and will graduate on time. Also, I am lucky to have two co-GAs at OSU who are great team members. The three of us support one another by covering tasks for one another when one has a busier week, and making sure that at the end of the day our tasks as a team are completed regardless of who must do it. My two supervisors are also understanding of my role as a student, a GA, and a NIRSA student leader and will continue to be supportive and helpful if I were to get this position. This is something not all GAs get to experience and I am thankful for my coworkers and their support of me pursuing this position.

If I were to receive this role, I would be intentional about my hours in the office and make sure that I am using them effectively to complete all my assigned tasks. I am not afraid to tell someone that I am unable to meet or complete a task at a certain time because I have school, work, or other things that I have already committed to. However, I am also proactive about finding a time that can work when I am not available when requested. I am adaptable when it is needed and do my best to look forward in the semester and identify weeks that will be more difficult for school or for work and prepare for them early by completing tasks ahead of time and ensuring to schedule downtime for myself to decompress.