My aspirations as a graduate student entering the Community Engagement field

Dear future scholar, 

This is not a conventional blog. This post is not related to a research-based topic. This is only the aspiration of a graduate student who finished her master's degree in May 2023 and is discovering her path as a scholar. I am writing this letter to you hoping that our experiences inform our praxis.

I have always known that I wanted to be a scholar. My WHY has been clear since I graduated from college due to having my Education professors as inspiration for my career preparation and working one-on-one with them on different educational projects. I saw myself creating new knowledge to advance the quality of education in Ecuador and internationally. However, knowing what, how, when, and where to start this journey was difficult. Starting my master’s degree was the first step to engaging in this world.

My why as a future scholar has been constantly reinforced by the mentorship of a specific scholar in the Community Engagement field in my master’s program. This scholar is Dr. Elaine Ward. I met her in the most unexpected way on Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As a mentor, she has motivated and challenged me to go beyond expectations, guided me, put me in touch with essential people through networking, and always gave me valuable advice. The journey I started on July 11, 2022, could not have been the same with this mentorship, from which I learned that togetherness could allow me to achieve more on a bigger scale of personal and professional satisfaction.  

I am proud of being an international student from Ecuador because I have learned to value how identity and intersectionality play a role in how I will work and impact others. I want to celebrate my identity and desire to be a scholar. I am grateful for having done my master's degree in the United States. This experience has opened my eyes to new life possibilities. However, by living abroad, I have also discovered that it would be meaningful to keep contributing to my country and my people. The social, economic, and political issues in Ecuador are worsening, so I reflected that my skill set is an asset I bring to the table to address the challenges that underrepresented communities from different provinces face daily. I want to do so by working at a higher education institution by strengthening partnerships with community outreach projects. I want to clarify that this will be my first approach to this long-term goal. As a future scholar, I envision going back home to do research. I am still wondering what I want to focus on, but Community Engagement has come to my professional life since 2019, and I have discovered an intrinsic passion for it.

It seems that I have my goal set for the following years. However, I am constantly battling to decide if being a scholar was meant for me. It is challenging to be surrounded by folks with much experience, and sometimes I have felt tiny and without the power to take action for myself because I do not know how to approach it. My key is to keep trying, asking, being honest, and putting in extra effort and desire to go ahead. I know things will not appear at my door; I must work hard to achieve what I want.

To be continued…

I look forward to hearing about your comments and your journey. Let’s support each other!

Best regards,

Diana 

Diana Coello recently graduated with a Master of Education in Higher Education at Merrimack College. She just started working as the Community Outreach Coordinator at Universidad San Francisco de Quito. She wants to enact social change in the higher education system in her home country, Ecuador. Diana can be reached at dianabelencb@hotmail.com