Elmhurst College   Life and Career Reflection In this first assignment, we would like you to take a brief "snap shot" of your life and career goals at this moment in time. What about your life and background has brought you to Elmhurst College at this time? Below is a reproduction of the Dimension - Career Readiness and below that are some general questions to help you work through this first reflective assignment.  DIMENSIONS Career Readiness As you move toward the choice of a career, you need to explore the relationship of your academic interests and career options. Try to identify personal traits and their "fit" with your potential career selection. Definitely take part in activities designed to explore your abilities, interests, values and their relationship to career choices. Suggested activities include the establishment of a relationship with a faculty mentor, participation in the career exploration and awareness activities sponsored by the Center for Professional Excellence, participation in the shadowing, mentoring and internship programs of the Center for Professional Excellence. The first PPP activity, entitled "Life and Career Reflection," will help you begin your career exploration. Documentation includes: 1) Explore - Describe: a brief description of activities, curricular and co-curricular, in which you participated as a means to explore abilities, interests, values. 2) Reflect - Enhanced Learning: reflection of what you learned about yourself from the activity in terms of abilities, interests, diverse points of views, leadership, values, communication and interpersonal skills, and potential career choices. 3) Impact: of the activity on your professional development and career choice. In order to further your professional ambitions, it is essential to reflect upon your experiences and to gauge your values and priorities. Before you begin to write about your goals and career aspirations, take a moment to think about your answers to the following questions. What unique circumstances have contributed to your individual identify? What activities have you participated in? How have your family, church, schools, friends, clubs, and other cultural influences shaped your sense of self? How have these same forces impacted your relationship with various communities and the U.S. society as a whole? In what ways have you decided to formulate your values and priorities? These are general questions which need not all be answered, but are given just to stimulate your thinking. However, try to address some of the following questions in your reflection. What is your end goal in obtaining a college education? How are you going to explore your career options? Do you seek a particular profession? In what ways do you see the liberal arts course you are taking (or plan to take) propelling you towards your career goals? How can you reconcile your personal and professional ambitions? Ultimately, your final reflective statement should take on some of the format as listed above: Explore - Describe, Reflect - Enhanced Learning, and Impact. However in this first writing assignment do not be overly concerned about entirely fitting into this format. Sometimes a format is more inhibiting than helpful and this may be the case here.