Brown’s Propositions

1. Emerging from a CocoonDiscovering Career Fulfillment through Brown’s Values-Based, Holistic Model of Career and Life-Role Choices and Satisfaction Career LifelineShelley RasinenCED 588

2. Brown’s Propositions • Values with high priorities are important in determining the choices we make. • Values are acquired from society, and everyone has a set of values. • Culture, sex, and socioeconomic status influences opportunity, so there is a variance in values in society. • To be satisfied, one must make choices that fit his/her values. • Life satisfaction increases through role interaction. • It is essential to have developed and prioritized values. • Success in one’s role requires that one has the ability to do perform well in that role.

3. My Values and Roles • God and my Faith – It is important that the life I live and the choices I make reflect my faith in God and my desire to serve Him by serving others. • Family and friends – Developing and valuing my relationships with my husband, my family, his family, others in our extended family, and my friends is extremely important. • Education, Serving, and Empowering – It is my desire to work in a capacity that helps meet people’s needs while empowering them through education. • Using my Abilities – I feel that my strongest abilities are in writing, teaching, and working closely with others in a variety of capacities.

4. Early Influences • My parents were very supportive in encouraging me in any goals I set for myself. As a child I saw my mom go to graduate school to earn her master’s degree, and I watched my dad change careers from owning a tire shop to going back to school to become an R.N. • My parents valued education and taught me to value it as well. We lived in a rural town with limited public school options, so my parents moved our family to provide better career options for my parents and better schooling options for my sister and myself.

5. Schooling – In and Outside the Classroom • I have wanted to be everything I can imagine including a ballerina, a doctor, an astronaut, a journalist, a motivational speaker, a youth minister, and a teacher. • My parents never discouraged any of my ideas and often made sacrifices to offer me the chance to explore these ideas. • What my parents could not expose me to in person, they exposed me to through books, and I became an avid reader and one who loves to write. • As a white child from the middle-class, I did not experience racism or discrimination. Though some of my early career choices were typically held by men, my dad, who became a male nurse, had shown me the importance of not letting stereotypes hinder you from choosing a career that allows you to use your gifts and that is one where you excel.

6. Higher Education • Because my mom’s parents had not been college educated, my mom felt somewhat alone in navigating the world of choosing a college and applying for scholarships. Due to this experience, she wanted me to have every advantage possible. • My parents traveled with me to visit schools across the state, encouraged me to be involved in my school and community, paid for me to take the ACT as many times as I could and to apply to as many schools as I wished, and helped me apply for scholarships. • What I saw as their encouragement did grant me privilege that my mom had not had and that other students, whose parents are not familiar with college, do not have either.

7. College and Related Experiences • University of Alabama – Bachelor’s degree in secondary education, English language arts • Job as ESL tutor • Mentor for Young Women Leaders Program • Hannah Home Women’s Shelter Volunteer • Campus Ministry Leader These experiences combine my values of my faith, relationships, education, and using abilities to serve others. My experiences as a mentor and at the women’s shelter were unforgettable, and I could see myself one day combining my values of education and serving others with my teaching experience through working in a program similar to either of these.

8. Student Success Specialist • Columbia Southern University • This was my first job after college. • I worked as a success specialist, tutoring students, revising papers, and teaching English skills in an online environment. • While I loved my department and my co-workers, I was dissatisfied in this job. It did not match what I valued, and I felt that I was not challenged and not able to use my skills or abilities. I wanted to work with people in face-to-face situations, and I also felt that my values clashed with some of those valued by the institution. • While others work in this department and continue to love their job, it did not bring me work-life satisfaction because it was not a match for me.

9. 9th Grade Teacher • Foley High School – English • Last year began my first year teaching. While it was a challenge and I am sure will continue to challenge me, it does combine many of my most important values and interests. • Upon completion of this degree in gifted and talented education, I would like to continue teaching and eventually work predominately with this population. • Through this job I am able to serve others and empower students through education while utilizing my skills in teaching and writing and my interests in reading and writing. • This job is flexible in that it also allows me the time and opportunity to be involved in church and with my family, merging my career with my life roles.

10. Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, so I feel as I begin to find my place in my career anddiscover career fulfillment through Brown’s Values-Based, Holistic Model of Career and Life-Role Choices and Satisfaction.