Brett Stachlers ePortfolioWelcome to my ePortfolio! Through the
use of photos I hope to provide a brief window into my development
to a student affairs practitioner and fierce social justice
advocate.
I choose to use pictures to embody my development because I am
living proof of Cornell Wests quote we are who we are because
somebody loved us.
I come from a 2nd generation Irish American working class,
first-generation college family as the oldest sibling of that
family. My mother (1) and father (2) have provided us with great
life chances and choices. Though my mom is not physically present
in my life, she has left her heart and soul with all of the lives
she touched. My father and brother (also 2) have been rocks in my
life ever since she passed away, and have impacted my life beyond
comprehension.
I also come from a family of educators. Just one of many
educators in our family, my Aunt Sue (3) is my greatest educational
inspiration. I addition to being my caretaker as I was growing up,
she showed me the impact an educator can have on a person and
society, as her passion flows for being an educator with some of
the most vulnerable students.
My partner Cesar has provided me with so many different moments
of joy in my life for what has been the last 4 years, but what
seems like a lifetime. In addition to the love and support he has
individually provided, he has given me a second family in the
Ybarras (5).
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The Struggle Through Higher Education has been a journey worth
reflecting on. In this journey, I discovered what it means to
navigate higher education though a lens of oppression as a queer,
(dis)ABLED, first-generation college student, who still has
privilege of being a white, middle-class, and a cis-man. This
struggle began at Moraine Valley Community College, but became
liberating when I transferred to Roosevelt University.
At Roosevelt, I met so many people that have impacted my entry,
journey, and development as a student affairs practitioner.
Throughout my life, I did not see myself as a leader based on what
I believed leaders were. Two of my lifelong friends, Jessica
Salvador (6) and Molly Thompson (7) taught me the practice of
leadership through efficacy building and empowerment by instilling
I was a leader, persuading me to pursue involvement opportunities
on campus, and to become a resident assistant with great fellow RAs
(8), beginning my student affairs journey.
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During this journey, I met Cheytaya Brown (9), my first mentor.
She saw the potential in me to become a student affairs
practitioner, and built my efficacy and leadership along the way. I
owe Cheytaya for building my efficacy to succeed in a graduate
program, and helping me discover my passion. This passion became
most prominent when I was challenged to
develop curriculum and present for a Safe Space Ally Training,
with her and other campus partners in lieu of having no gender and
sexuality resource center. It was in this moment of presenting, I
realized the love and passion for queer student affairs.
After graduating, I gained two more mentors in my time at
Roosevelt working in the Center for Student involvement, Jarquetta
Egeston and Elizabeth Choporis (10). I also gained too many friends
and colleagues at Northwestern University to be pictured, but none
important than my
supervisor of the gender and sexuality resource center, and
mentor Devin D. Moss (11).
I can only hope I will find community that can come close to
replicating the community of scholars I have learned with in the
past two years. The below picture does not reflect the entire
community I learned with at Loyola University Chicago, but reflects
the cohort I began my journey with. I assumed this program would be
competitive and relationships far and few. This community was
affirming and challenging to my own development, and has provided a
model of collegiality I will look to in my professional career.
I will finally thank any an all, in every phase of my life, who
provided help in my academic life. I grew up in a educational
system that did not affirm my learning as a student who has a
reading comprehension learning
disability and attention deficit hyper activity disorder. I now
know those grades do not define my intelligence, despite my heart
believing it at the time, but could not be standing here without
their belief in me.
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