Core Competencies
Core competencies are skills developed through educational and personal experiences. These skills mature not only through actions and educational activities, but also through reflection on oneself as an individual, scholar, and professional being. To become competent, one must take it upon themselves to become a lifelong learner and constantly aim to further his or her knowledge and understanding of each principle. Many core competencies are beneficial or even essential traits for many professionals.
Oral Communication and Presentation
I believe that my time at CSU Monterey Bay has improved my ability to communicate orally, specifically in a formal or presentation setting. The core competency of oral communication is defined by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) as the ability to deliver a prepared and purposeful presentation that adequately increases knowledge or understanding in the listeners. Before coming to CSU Monterey Bay, my oral presentation skills were abysmal at best. Even answering a question out loud in class was enough to cause my hands to tremble and bring tears to my eyes. Of course, in college, every single class I have taken has required some form of presentation. Being routinely faced with one of my greatest struggles made the thought of presenting less terrifying and more manageable. The classes that changed my attitude the most were my Spanish courses. Speaking to a large group in a language I was unfamiliar with allowed me to own my ability to give oral presentations. I now am able to deliver thoughtful speeches and presentations without fear. Becoming less afraid of presentations has not only made me feel more comfortable, but it has also improved the quality of my presentations and group discussions. Now that I am no longer weighed down with fear, I am able to more clearly convey my message and add detail and personality to my presentations that I would never have been able to do before. Though I know there is much room for improvement, I pride myself in the improvements I have made with my oral communication skills, and I am confident that my skills will only improve more over time.
Ethical Reasoning
The classes I have taken at CSUMB have also allowed me to expand my ethical reasoning. Ethical reasoning is defined by the AAC&U as the ability to develop an ethical identity while also assessing situations in an ethical context and understanding differing ethical viewpoints. After taking Dialogue and Deliberation, I felt more comfortable engaging in dialogue about ethics, particularly between differing ethical opinions. This class was able to broaden my ability to make ethical decisions because it taught me how to acknowledge other ethics without dismissing my own personal views. I have also felt more confident in my ethical standpoint after taking this class than I had felt before. My ethics and morality are a key aspect of my personality and character, so to be able to hone in what I truly believed in was an extremely positive experience for me. Overall, Dialogue and Deliberation was by far the most useful class I have taken in college so far because I was able to redefine my own ethics and apply them more appropriately to all aspects of my life.
Creative Thinking
Creative thinking is defined by the AAC&U as the capacity to synthesize ideas in original ways and thinking in an imaginative way that results in a high degree of innovation and risk-taking. I have had many experiences academically and professionally where I have needed to solve problems on the fly, but no class has ever challenged my methods of thinking as much as ENSTU 472. This capstone course focused on projects in environmental education. We worked at Los Arboles Middle School in Marina CA. My project specifically was to design and perform a curriculum on building a cob bench out of sustainable materials. From the beginning, I knew this was the project for me: it was hands-on, building-based, and involved "getting dirty." Soon after the project started however, I realized this project was so much more than I had bargained for. Cob is not an easy building material to work with and no one in our group had ever heard of it before. I had to teach cob building and design to a group of middle school students while simultaneously learning it myself. Each day of class we were either short materials or short on time. Somehow, we made it work and I can honestly credit the success of this project entirely to creative thinking. To get materials, I decided the only way to get all of the materials was to be to drive to the only quarry nearby with clay soil (all the way in Santa Cruz) in a borrowed vehicle and deliver it to the middle school. Other materials, like the solid concrete rocks for the foundation, had to be sourced from many different locations. Every step of this process took a level head and creative thinking to solve the plethora of problems we faced. However, this is what made the project so rewarding. I have developed not only the ability to problem solve, but the ability to do so in a manner that was creative and resourceful.