While at the University of West Georgia, I was advised by mentors, mostly student affair practitioners, who guided and supported me throughout my collegiate career. Mainly, these mentors challenged me to take steps in order to acquire new growth. During this process, my mentors walked with me on this journey, but they did not hold my hand. They gave me what the theorist Sanford would call, “a challenge and support balance.” When reflecting on Sanford’s theory of challenge and support, I recall my experience as a Resident Assistant (RA). As a RA, I struggled with enforcing policy and mediating conflicts with residents. Now I know that this was partly attributed to my desire for wanting residents to like me, especially since many of them were …show more content…
For example, as I started to develop my assertiveness, many of my residents reacted negatively. Many of my friends who were also my residents told me that I was being too “uptight” and that I was taking my job “too seriously.” These negative consequences discouraged me; however, my supervisor was always there to support me during these times. She encouraged me to keep trying and to stay consistent. I knew that whenever I was struggling, I could always go to her for help. Towards the end of the year, I was a RA with confidence who felt comfortable confronting residents and was unafraid to venture into unpredictable territory. As a result of the challenge and support I received as a RA, I am now a supervisor myself. As an aspiring student affairs practitioner, I try to give my students the same challenge and support that my supervisor gave to …show more content…
A lack of balance can have negative consequences on a student’s growth. For example, too much support will hinder the student from ever truly learning and too much challenge will overwhelm the student, often hindering them from even trying (Evans, Forney, Guido, & Patton, 2016, p. 36). Therefore, finding a challenge and support balance is crucial to student’s development. In addition, before utilizing challenge and support, a student must be ready to do so. Sanford referred this as a student’s “readiness” (Evans, Forney, Guido, & Patton, 2016, p. 36). According to Sanford, this means that cannot grow until the physically or psychological ready to do so. If you try to enforce challenge and support to do early, then the student will reject it. However, because as a RA I demonstrated the ability to meet the challenge, my supervisor proceeded