Writing royal.

After reading Jason's blog, and his entry displaying his "Coord Advice," I feel compelled to do the same. I suppose this is just the same as when he read my own entry displaying my "Coord Pearls of Wisdom" before SPOP had even started.

Dear Coordinators of future times, 

I want to truly congratulate you all. Whether you have been part of this program for years, or beginning a completely new experience with SPOP, you all are in for an incredible journey with one another. I hold the most upmost confidence in all of you, especially since you all have been selected with such great purpose by mike Knox and Jill Halvaks. From many past/ potentially future staffers, you may hear that SPOP is a life-changing program. Little do people know, it is so much more coming from the work and perspective of a coordinator. You all are about to embark on a long and amazing experience, and trust me it is quite long. Despite all of this, just as in anything else you may do, don’t set too many expectations for yourself and how you may change. You will definitely learn more about yourself, but your core character will never truly change. That is why you all have been chosen, to bring your own perspectives, values, and character to influence the program. 

As coordinators, you all embody the force that really drives SPOP to be what it is. Soon enough, you will be finding yourselves working every day together, and devoting tremendous amounts of time to this one program; together. Always remember that you five will have each other to fall back on when times get rough. It has been expressed that SPOP is a program that develops an immense support system. However, as coordinators, you are each other’s largest support. You are the rock and anchor for one another. This factor greatly contributes to the cohesiveness in your team. When working together, it is important to not overstep each other. When making decisions, be conscious of whether everyone is for something or not. If not, it is immensely valuable to take the time to discuss more within your team to clarify reason and intention. With this, you learn to be patient, and this is actually quite the understatement. If you already thought of yourself as a patient person, you will learn to become even more so. In the end, it really comes down to just trusting one another, and sticking together. I cannot stress enough how significant it is to not only show cohesiveness within the coordinators to staff, but actually be a cohesive team as well. During the school year, you all will probably be incredibly busy with all your other involvements and jobs, along with SPOP. Just remember to at least try and schedule some time together outside of work. It will benefit everyone greatly. 

Going through this experience, you may have doubts about yourself, the staff, or the program itself, especially if you have never been involved with SPOP before. However, don’t be afraid to express this to one another. As a coordinator who had never been a staffer, I truly valued the insight of the coordinators who had staffed in past years. If anything, they added onto the ambition for me to continue. They reminded me why I and the other four were coordinators for this program. Those doubts you may have will soon fade away as long as you stay strong to your values. 

I am extremely excited for you five this coming year, and I hope for only the best. I know me and the other coordinators are already proud to have you all continue progressing this program to be incredible, as well as truly showing SPOP for what it is.

Best Regards,
Brandon Kwong

It's interesting to see how my advice has been so directed in a certain way, that it really relates to one of my five strengths; harmony. I believe this was a strength that played a major role within our group of coordinators. However, I believe my other strengths I utilized the best I could with the staff and program; developer, individualization, empathy, and responsibility. It seems that so many of my academically involved peers are so familiar with StrengthsFinder, knowing and utilizing their top five strengths. It wasn't until a few months ago I actually took this test. It's nothing I was really surprised about, but it was quite interesting in seeing how much of it I actually applied to this program and everything else I do.

In submitting my Coord Advice to our Royal Year Binder, it truly signifies the closing for us as coordinators. I remember Jill Halvaks making her final words during the SPOP Closing lunch, and how her tearing up began to choke myself up as well. She said that without us coordinators, this program would not be here, nor would there be the staff that had sat before us. It works in other ways as well. Without the staff, there would be no program to be run. Only by working together, do we create such an incredible program for UC Irvine's incoming students and parents. It is true though, that without us coordinators, we would not have been able to pick such a wonderful and lovely staff.

I wouldn't have worked with any other 134 beautiful people.