Angelica Gonzalez
Portfolio Assignment (1 of 3)
Bryant and Stratton College
COMM 150: Introduction to Information Literacy and Research
Ms. Eileen Anderson
October 8, 2011

I believe there are core basic skills that can help you succeed in any capacity for school, work, and life as a whole. First and foremost, a positive attitude is necessary for you to succeed. Positive attitude is the ability to look at everything as though “the glass is half full” (Diaz). During difficult times you consider the good aspects to solve potential issues. Generally, things are not considered a problem but as an opportunity of growth and improvement.

Staying motivated is another great quality to success. A self-motivated individual not only accesses what needs to be done, but will stop at nothing to ensure the task is completed. I consider myself to be a self-motivated person. I currently hold a support position at the South Buffalo Charter School. As the Office Manager, I am continuously compiling projects that need to be done in order for things to run smoothly for staff, children and families. There have been times that I have stayed late into the evening or have even come in on the weekends to get the job done. I consider it as just part of my job in order to ensure we are prepared for whatever a typical day may bring.

In my current position, I am always trying to continuously improve our current procedures. As a member of support staff, I assist others in getting their job done efficiently. I am always coming up with new forms to satisfy a need for information or to aide a new process for implementation. When I first came aboard at SBCS the faculty was working harder, not smarter. I knew there had to be an easier more comprehensive way to manage the student info than just excel spreadsheets. They even already had a student information system that they were not even using. I knew it was going to be a lot of work to get started, but would eventually pay off in the end. After many man hours of data entry, we finally had a better way to pull student demographic information, build schedules, and pull reports to just name a few tasks. At the time of my arrival, the cafeteria was handling the student lunch accounts by hand. Now they can manage those accounts electronically which leads to less chance of human error. We even have a parent portal that allows parents to do such things as view their child’s grades, lunch balance, attendance, or teacher email addresses over the internet. This is something else that I started after obtaining my position.

Good interpersonal skills are another key component to success. I serve a hundred staff members and approximately seven hundred students and their families. I would not be able to do my job without good interpersonal skills. I ensure the office has a pleasant and warm atmosphere where our school community can seek help and service with a smile. Working at a city school, I encounter many different members of the community. At any given moment I am prepared to assist with an emotional parent, an angry student, or a frustrated faculty member, just to name a few. It is my responsibility to diffuse the situation as necessary and if I cannot help them myself, to direct them to the person who can. I have built a great repour with the members of my school community. I am their liaison between their question and the answer.
Flexibility is another key role of success. A person who is flexible knows there are times when things are not always black and white and can look at the grey and make changes accordingly for the benefit of an organization. My school has changed administrators three times in eight years and with each leader another valuable piece to our puzzle of success has been added. It is important to have the capability to embrace change because we never know what tomorrow may bring but having the ability to accept those changes can make your transition so much easier.

I am very comfortable with my level of positive attitude, continuous improvement, interpersonal skills and flexibility. I am always considered the cheer leader of the group and look forward to the challenges of what the typical day may bring. Due to the nature of my current position, I come across differences within our community and assist in bringing them to a common place. I feel these types of qualities are indispensable in any career I choose. My current employer is expanding to multiple buildings on one campus in two years and I am looking forward to obtaining a position where I can oversee the office personnel and admissions for all buildings. I love my job at the charter school and feel I provide a great service in aiding the community towards educational reform. I also feel that continuing my educational experience is instrumental moving forward in a facility that prides itself on education. This assignment helped me revisit my love of what I do and my purpose for continuing my education. If I were assigned this assignment later in the semester I would further research a career in admissions on a collegiate level. Aiding students and their families is what I enjoy doing and would like to research the possibility on assisting students like myself.

References

Diaz, “Feel The Difference That A Positive Attitude Makes to Your Life”, n.d., para 4
Macpherson, R. (2006). The Top 5 Qualities you need to advance your career. Quill, 94(2), 26-27. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.