Graduate Student Spotlight - Hailey Robinson
March 26, 2018
Hometown: Okmulgee, OK
Graduate Institution: Oklahoma State University
Degree you are working towards: Educational Leadership Studies (option: College Student Development)
Undergraduate Institution: Arkansas Tech University
Why you chose your graduate institution: It made the most sense to me financially, because debt is REAL. Also, I really liked the idea of having 2 internships within the curriculum, and the possibility to create a creative component, as well as attending a research institution.
Why you wanted to go to graduate school: Honestly, I had no idea what I was going to do after undergrad. All I knew was that I loved college, I loved working with students, and I was not ready to work full-time. So, graduate school made sense, you can never go wrong with education. Also, I knew it would give me 2 more years to figure things out.
What area(s) of Student Affairs interest you most and why: Multicultural Affairs and marketing/communications
A memorable moment working with your students at your assistantship (if applicable): One moment that sticks out to me the most, was in my previous role as an Assistant Residential Community Educator. At the time, I supervised 11 Community Mentors, and with that, I had 11 boisterous students. One evening we had a large group discussion surrounding conspiracy theories – this is one of my student’s forte. I won’t go into much detail about the theories because they were absurd and could be offensive if taken out of context. Although it wasn’t very educational in nature, it was one of the most entertaining conversations that I’ve had in my time here. We had residents from the building walk in and join the debates. Seeing their personalities and imaginations and work was great, we laughed for hours. If there was any ice that needed to be broken, it was shattered in those moments.
What are your hobbies? Yoga, kickboxing, vlogging and blogging.
What is your dream job? My dream job would be working with IssaRae Production, or Ava Duvernay – the art of storytelling is so powerful and necessary.
Who would play you in a movie of your life and why? Skai Jackson, she’s so cute and her natural hair is always on point!
My secret passion is? I loooove making YouTube videos. I love the aspect of planning and having ideas, and seeing those ideas and concepts come to life. The best part is seeing everyone’s responses to the videos, there’s always good and bad, but the good has definitely outweighed the bad. Knowing that I have helped someone is the best part.
What you would like to be remembered for? I want to be remembered as someone who is genuine, authentic and cares for students (and people in general). Also, I want to be remembered as someone who lived life, and nt just existed. Lastly, I want to be remembered as someone who shattered the status quo and made change.