Episode 165 Your Story Matters: Reflection for Learning and Personal Growth Part 1

Welcome to Digication Scholars Conversations. I'm your host, Kelly Driscoll. In this episode, you'll hear Part One of my conversation with Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, a recent graduate of Arizona State University, where she received her master's degree in communication. More links and information about today's conversation can be found on Digication's Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Full episodes of Digication Scholars Conversations can be found on YouTube or your favorite podcast app.

Welcome to Digication Scholars Conversations.

I'm your host Kelly Driscoll and today I'm so excited to introduce Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, a recent graduate of Arizona State University where she pursued a master's degree in communication. Welcome, Whitney. Thank you. Thank you for having me today. Absolutely. I have so enjoyed learning about you through the beautiful pages of your ePortfolio, but I'm absolutely thrilled to have a chance to now talk to you and give you a chance to tell your story and experience with our listeners today.

So I thought I'd just get started with asking you to tell us a little bit about your background and what led you to Arizona State University. Well, I will say, and I've said this to many people, that it was not planned. Like, it just happens. I started college at a community college in California at Southwestern College. Probably in 2004 or 2005, my degree was in psychology, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how, how it works.

And I didn't know how to ask questions at the time because I think I was about 18 or 19. So I did not ask questions. I didn't know who to go to. I didn't understand what path I was supposed to take to, in order to graduate. And so many years later, um, my daughter, she's my stepdaughter, but she's my baby. Absolutely. Um, when she Graduated high school. She asked me to go with her to college. And I was like, Oh, I guess so. I'll try this. It was, it was.

Stressful at first because we didn't know how, we didn't understand how to apply, or at least it felt more complicated than what it actually was. But, uh, I was able to apply and we, her and I actually took some classes together, but I changed my degree to Communication. Okay. And she chose psychology, funny enough. And we were there for two years. COVID happened. Yeah. So we were going in person. Yeah, we were going in person. But you know what?

I understand it was a hard time for a lot of people, but It seemed to be the perfect time for me to go because right when that happened, it went from going in person to doing it, the classes online. And I have a, a son too. So I was able to stay at home and, um, be with my son, be there for him and do my classes online. And even though it was, Um, we, we had to, we had a scheduled meetings. I, I felt more comfortable. I felt it was great.

And then that school in particular happened to create a new transfer program. So it was trans, it was a transfer program to SDSU, San Diego State University. So that's why I said it wasn't planned. None of this was planned. Things were happening. It's just, I was able to get financial aid and the, with the financial aid, I, I could use it to transfer to get my bachelor's degree. And I saved up the money from financial aid.

So when I finished my bachelor's, I said, um, I, I was in touch with a professor, my very first communication professor. I've been in touch with him all these years and he's helped me along the way. So I told him, okay, what do I do next? And he said, I recommend Arizona State University. And luckily I had enough money to go to school there. And it was so fast. I think it took like a year or a year and a half maybe to finish my master's degree.

And I was, I'm so happy that I've had the chance to have that experience. Yes. Uh, many congratulations and, and thank you for sharing that story. I think for many people, you know, they have some ideas about how You know, their education trajectory is going to work and may not realize that there may be some pivots and changes and unexpected things that happen along the way.

And as I have these conversations with students and alumni, I'm learning that Many during that kind of upheaval during COVID, um, it became a time where people were kind of evaluating what's next and what they want to do and changes happening with their families. And many found it as a time where they could pivot and reinvest more time in their education and, um, have a different kind of balance. with family life and things that they were doing outside of the home before all of that happened.

So, um, thank you for sharing that. It's something that I'm finding, um, is an interesting kind of common thread with a lot of folks around, around that time.

It was still a bit of a bumpy road going along. Especially because, for example, when I was doing the transfer program, it was new. It was fairly new, maybe like two years old. And there was still like, we were still trying to figure out, because I also went with two other people. Two people that I met in my classes, they became my best friends. And one of them I went to San Diego, I mean to Arizona State with in the end. Mm hmm.

But. We were constantly trying to figure out, do we have all the classes we need? And at times we were told, or at least we thought we had all the classes and then another class pops up. So when I transferred to SDSU. And I got there, they said, Oh, you still have two math classes that you have to take. Oh boy! And I was like, No!

I, I literally felt, I, I can visualize, or at least the whole time when I was taking the classes, it felt like, I had like a little floaty, uh, floating device around my neck, and I was just keeping my head above water trying to pass these classes. Uh, I was, yeah. I passed them with a B. I was like, yeah, those things could make some students feel like, um, discouraged. They're like, okay, I don't have time for this.

So I had to go physically back to the community college to take those classes. And um, you know, I had to arrange life a little bit just to finish that off. Yeah. But, but it, it makes the whole journey worth it because you have, So many challenges and you're like, ah, I've overcome them, you know, so it makes everything worth it.

Yes. Yes and you mentioned that there was a an individual that you have stayed in contact with that sounds like they have kind of become a mentor for you and Yeah was part of leading you to this pathway to ASU. Could you talk a little bit about how you met them and maybe some ways that they've supported you and maybe you're still in touch today? Yes. Uh, so my professor, like I said, he was my very first communication professor.

And there's one saying that I like to, um, tell my kids or tell other students, like, don't ask people to be your mentor, you know, you make them your mentor, but you don't ask them because it kind of puts, it makes them feel like a pressure or like, Oh, what, what, what are they going to want from me? You know, so you have to learn, at least I've found out, you have to learn how to build rapport with people and, and gain trust and friendship and, you know, feel comfortable.

Make them also feel comfortable enough that, you know, they can come to you too. Because he's actually come to me too to ask me about ASU because he wants to get his, um, doctorate. And so he said, how was the program? And I told him everything was great there. It was really, it was convenient and, you know, the teachers are very supportive. And so, yeah, he was my very first professor.

I think I remember the class because of also the students in the class, the way that Uh, he had us connect with each other. I remember the first class he told us to grab at least like three people's phone numbers, three other students phone numbers, so that we, when we need help or need to study, uh, we keep in contact with those people. And that, and that's actually great advice because some kids might be coming in, and they don't know anyone and they feel alone.

At least you have someone you can ask questions, right? Yeah. And, and then the class was just, it was so much fun. I remember dying laughing in that class. A lot of the times I, I remember everything I was taught in that class. The very first thing he said to us was, It's communication, not communications. So, and then I started to notice when people say that and I was like, ah, now I know it's communication. It's that's the degree.

Okay. Um, but yeah, he was really supportive by, you know, Asking me questions about what are my goals? What do I want? And sometimes we think that we know what we want. Um, or we think that we have to go down a specific path to get what we want. Um, and then it might lead to something else. And that's exactly what has happened to me because I told him. Um, he met with me after I, or while I was in my bachelor's program, he met with me and asked me what I wanted to do.

And I said, I wanted to be a body language expert because I've been studying that and you know, he said, well, I mean, you can make a YouTube channel and discuss, like make commentary about videos and things like that. And in the end. After I finished my master's, I wrote to him again and I said, okay, now what do I do? And he's like, okay, you ready to work? He's like, come, come to Southwestern College and become a professor here, you know?

And that's what I'm pursuing, currently pursuing right now. And I'm excited because he allowed me. Uh, an opportunity to speak with his class and give a lecture or a discussion about things about, actually about my Digication and it was exciting and I'm like, yeah, I'm ready for this. I am ready to work and I don't want to forget any of that knowledge.

I just want to keep absorbing it, you know, that's an, that's another reason why I got my master's is because I was so excited about learning and it wasn't just the content that I was learning in class. It was, I was learning other things about problem solving and being creative and all this new technology that, you know, has come out, ChatGPT, Canva.

All of those programs at LinkedIn, they even helped us, uh, with our resume and our LinkedIn profiles and even on LinkedIn itself, they have courses. So I just kept grab, you know, grabbing all this knowledge and. And I'm so excited about sharing it with others. Yeah, and that really comes through as you're exploring your ePortfolio as well.

You have these beautifully written reflections on different things that you were learning and making these wonderful connections between things that you were learning in your courses, but how that connected to other experiences or other courses that you had taken. So there's this beautiful kind of synthesis with the experiences that you had, um, and kind of thinking about how you might apply some of those skills in different settings as well.

And I was curious, um, as you joined, uh, ASU, how were you introduced to Digication and this whole idea of creating the ePortfolio, or was this something that you just kind of discovered on your own? Well, we had one Cla... One course called Training and Development, which was one of the best courses ever. . I just loved it because it taught us how to teach others, you know, and it was more about being, um, creative and, and look at everyone else as an active learner.

They want to learn in a way where they know that it'll, it will apply to their life and they want it to be interactive so they can actually learn how to do whatever you're training them to do. And at the end of the course, we had to create. Uh, different Digication about, I think it was about sections that we learned in that course and, and how, uh, what we learned from each section or what we learned about learners or training and development itself. And that was cool.

I, I look at it now and I'm like, huh. I didn't put in as, I know I put a lot of work into it, but I was like, it doesn't look like anything like my last Digication. The last Digication was from Capstone.

And I will tell you, I was the very first person to put it up so that my Digication has over a thousand views on there because I think I was kind of like the Example for everyone else at first and and it put pressure on me because I'm like, okay people are looking at my stuff So I better make this good. We call that healthy peer motivation. Yes, exactly, oh man, I was like I need to and I think I've changed it up a couple of times.

I I I I put a lot of pressure on myself and it was good pressure. It was good because it was so rewarding when I finished. And I think even more rewarding when my professor said, this was a great job. You know, we're really proud of what you've done. And I'm like, yes, but it was scary. I think it was scary for most students because, uh, even though they gave us Like an outline, like a timeline of what section we should have done on which days and, you know, where we should lead up to.

And we did have a mentor. Along the way, it was like, you had to do all of this by yourself. You had to make the decisions on how you wanted to design it. Uh, what information, even though they gave you the, okay, this section is for reflection, even though they told you that, you had to figure out how you wanted to put that, you know, and, and, and be creative with it. And I think the creativity is what saved me, like using Canva. Or was it Cam? Yeah, Canva.

Um, that was more meditative because I, I love being creative. So just, just, uh, concentrating and focusing on how I want it to look helped me so much with the pressure. But yeah, each section also allowed me to learn more about myself and put, put into practice or helped me to practice the information that I learned. So that I would be able to express it to others.

So when I did the lecture with, uh, my, my professor's class, I was able to do it off the top of my head, no script, no, I mean, I had, uh, a worksheet. to follow for everyone else to follow too. But I, I, I remembered everything because I had to work on this thing for, I don't know how long it was, uh, eight weeks, eight weeks, I believe I had to work on it for eight weeks and really concentrate on it. And with my friend, her and I, we would call each other.

Cause she was also in the same class with me. We would call each other and try to keep each other motivated, see where we were understand what we needed to do for Eset... Each, each section and, you know, really keep each other on our toes. Like, okay, she's already up to this point. I better hurry up and get to that point too. Like you kind of feel like, okay, am I falling behind or am I, am I ahead?

That's why everyone would look at each other's Digication, because they're like, okay, am I where I'm supposed to be? And like you said, it's healthy, a healthy competition. Pure motivation. Yeah, motivation. Not competition, but motivation. I think the community aspect is important.

And, um, I'm glad to hear that the, um, instructor that you were working with, it sounds like they encouraged you to share it with others in your course so they could see it and, and you also made the decision to make it public, which is how we found your beautiful ePortfolio also. Um, and as someone who was the first to kind of share it, I'm sure that, you know, it was a little.

Scary in the beginning to to put yourself out there, um, but I think probably rewarding as well that you got to see that a lot of people were saying, Oh, wow. Okay. This is, this is a high bar to strive for, but I'm sure it really helped other people to, See how, how you chose to organize it and what pieces of work you chose to put in it. The quality of the reflections again, uh, was just wonderful.

Here's a preview of what's coming up next in Part Two of my conversation with Whitney Fountain-Ruiz, a recent graduate of Arizona State University. I did try to get him into it, but I wanted him to understand it is okay if you make mistakes. But if you make a mistake, you can also ask questions until you get help or find the answer that you're looking for.