Alyson M. Huber

I believe much of my success stems from a mix of personality and a natural love of learning. I have a unique and innate ability to connect to just about any human I meet, and I do feel I bring good energy to each professional space I have been involved in. I have been fascinated by learning new things my entire life and have never actually left the world of academia since preschool. As it turns out... It looks like I'm in 29th grade this year!

Massachusetts has the number one schools in the United States, and Western Massachusetts has the small class sizes that really hone in on creating authentic, holistic learners and people. I am forever grateful to have been raised in a town size of 2,000 people! In having these small class sizes I was able to soar. I was the captain of the volleyball team at the same time I was the lead in the All School Musical "Annie", the secretary of National Honor Society and the President of Students Against Destructive Decisions. Goodness, I miss my energy at age 18 years old but I can't say that my passions have stopped even now at the age of 33. I graduated with my incredible class of 58 students and boomed into the college realm.

I chose Colby-Sawyer College for the rigorous class schedule, dreamy rolling hills of New Hampshire, but mainly because I found a campus where people smiled when you walked into a room. They opened doors for people they didn't know, and the campus itself had Narnia like energy that just buzzed with excitement and positivity. I was awarded the John and Abigail Adams Scholarship in high school which meant I could attend any Massachusetts State school free of tuition, and trust me when I tell you that my parents were not pleased when I fell in love with a private school three hours away instead! When they visited for the first time, they understood. This campus and I were about to grow together in the most extraordinary way! I was the stage manager of the college musical, dabbled in sound and lighting, I worked backstage and even took three stagecraft courses. Who knew this girl could learn how to build staging for a show? I certainly did not.

From there my college internship turned into my first full time teaching position, I just think the Head of School loved my sparkle and knew I would make a great fit to teach the Upper Elementary School students. My first class had 11 students and I could still tell you each of their names, I think I've talked to a handful of them within the past few years in fact! Montessori learning not only helped me to educate students with a hands on, practical life lens... it helped me grow myself as that 22 year old who never went back home after college.

If we fast forward about 10 years, I had moved back home to be the aunt to my sister's children that I had always wanted to be. I was teaching at an even more prestigious Montessori School and involved in trainings and certifications with Montessorians well known throughout the world. I likely could have stayed in the realm of early education forever, but also knew with a baby on the way that I poured the majority of my energy into my young students in a way that might make me a less present mother after my day was done.

This brought me to Academic Advising. Staying in the world of education was important to me, but I had never really considered working with college level students before. I'm not sure that I will ever leave! I am now working with students from all over the WORLD in the largest university in America. I work with an incredible team with remote teammates scattered around the 50 states. This role allows me to learn about the world from the small town living that I love. It allows me to close my computer at the end of a productive work day and go outside to play with my children. What could be better than that?

All of these moments have attributed to my success, and I can't wait to see what is next around the bend.

It was the night before my first ever day of teaching. The classroom sparkled, the Montessori lessons were spotless on the shelves, and I was freaking out. As I looked at my lesson plans, the thoughts swirled around my head; Who decided it was a good idea to let me educate the youth? These families were paying $10,000 a year for me to educate their child, what if I let them down?

The Head of School walked into my classroom. She had also taught English at the local high school for thirty years before opening up this private school, and I just know she could smell my fear from a mile away.

She said to me "Miss Aly, fake it until you make it. These parents and students have no idea that you don't know what you're doing yet! You have the education, you did the internship and practicum, you are ready for this. Lead with your heart like I know you will and time is the only thing that will give you the 'readiness' you are looking for. This team of educators has decades of collective teaching experience and we are not going to let you walk through this alone."

'Fake it until you make it' is such a cliche first day on the job quote, but it was everything I needed to hear from my boss in that moment. She saw me, she knew I didn't have any experience, and she believed in me anyway.

For advice I would give to women entering my industry? It is okay not to know! There is no reason to create answers out of thin air, or scramble to find the information a student is looking for. The power of saying "let me do some digging for you, can I schedule a callback with you in an hour?" is so much more professional, grounded, and confident than any answer you could formulate in that moment.

We as women are taught from a young age to second guess ourselves, to pick ourselves apart and to remain ungrounded. This is simply the work of stereotyping, media portrayals of women, and of course the glass ceiling we know and love. You deserve to find the ground and you deserve to feel confident in whatever you put your mind to. Hold tight to your resources, your ability to research, and your passion to help students to persist in their college experience. Being authentic instills trust, and students need to have a trusting working relationship with you in order to ask for help. It is truly a privilege to step into a role where you can advocate for learners and help them get to that graduation stage. They are here to grow themselves as professionals and people, and you could very well be the person that changes the path to their future. Don't let that weigh you down, let that ground you into your "why" and allow it to grow YOU as a professional.

I would say the biggest challenges in my field right now would be the barriers that I see my students working against. Inflation has created massive financial hardship. I have seen increasing situations involving homelessness, deteriorating mental health, needing to take terms off to catch up on bills. This is not just within the world of academia of course, but it does affect their ability to persist in their program.

With that said, our biggest challenge is also our greatest opportunity. My university continues to provide wellness resources to students for no charge, and the resources are ever changing! Being able to holistically coach students using the tools I have in my resource toolbox gives me true purpose within this work. If a student opens up to me about financial or mental health struggles, we have many free resources that can help them to find better even before they receive that diploma in hand. We have Career experts that can help current students with resume building, mock interviews, websites online outside of indeed that have job postings that the student may not have heard of. We really do have the ability to advise our student in far more than just academics, we can help them to resources that could change the course of their lives before even reaching graduation.

I have multiple values that are important to my professional and personal lives, and they are often the same!

Being authentic is not only a benefit, but it helps you to build trust with your leaders, bosses, colleagues, and students. Do not be afraid to discuss your areas of strength and opportunity! In doing so it will help the person working with you to understand how best to support. Have moments of vulnerability, it is okay to say to a student "I struggled with time management too, it was a barrier of mine in my early college education and created quite a few stressful moments! I hear you and I empathize with you wanting to break that cycle."

Being authentic helps my marriage, my friendships, and my parenting. It allows me to say that I'm sorry if I made the wrong choice. It helps me say hard things to my siblings, or my parents. It allows the people around me to feel as if they are safe with me, because I will not ever lie to them.

Seeing best intent is something that I have worked on in the past few years, and it has helped so much in how I perceive my home life and the world! Humans will often create narratives that don't exist, so why not create a positive storyline until you have more information? If a student is failing again and I haven't heard back, I come at it with a "I hope you are okay" standpoint, not a frustration. If I find myself in a tailspin about my children's schooling experience 5 years down the road, I try to catch it and change the narrative. What's best case scenario? What do I hope for? What steps can I take to make it happen? People don't always have good intentions but if I don't know enough about the situation yet, I can at least give the benefit of the doubt before I know more.

This perspective shift has allowed me to stay curious with my children. They are 1.5 and 2.5 years old and GOODNESS I my life is a whirlwind right now. Seeing best intent allows me to look at my tantruming child and say in my head "he's having a hard time, he's not giving me a hard time." Is it still wildly overstimulating? Absolutely, but it helps me get through those tough moments.

Lastly, do not confuse having fun for lack of professionalism. I stepped into the college world after years of dance parties with fourth graders, helping second graders blow noses, and having true blue moments of goofiness to grasp the attention of my audience! Guess what I do for my college students? The very same thing when the moment is right. I have found ways to make a crying student laugh. A very stoic military student of mine laughed when I responded to him with "cool beans". This energy can help a failing student pick up the phone and know I am going to give them the respect, care, and positivity that I would if they were getting an A. My boss refers to me as "the resident sunshine lady" and my team will often tell me I make their day brighter. This is not something I "put on", it is just who I am and I do not need to hide that in order to be successful. I do not need to be less to be a professional. I am not saying to bring this energy to every space because goodness knows reading the room is important! I am saying that I have learned to assess my personality and USE that to my professional advantage.

In stepping away from early education and into higher education, I find that having fun with my toddlers is so much more manageable. I can really step into their world, pretend play, and giggle with them! I would be lying if I said every moment is like that, but these moments often are core memories and I am so grateful I can give them that version of me when the moment asks for it.

In the spaces I provide to my students, family, and friends I can be grounded, I can be empathetic, I can be firm, and I can also bring fun. Leave space for the fun, and it will help everyone involved succeed and feel a bit lighter.