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Jayla Hartmann Starks

• Student Personnel Specialist
• Junior
• Speech Pathology and Audiology and American Sign Language Major

Jayla Hartman Starks is a Junior studying Speech Pathology and Audiology and American Sign Language. She is also the President of the National Student Speech Language Hearing Association and is in the Air National Guard.  “I am a Student Personnel Specialist. I work under Jeff Kingery. I help facilitate training. I put together presentations for the Student Leader Cohort and New Hire Orientation.” Jayla said. “I'm practically a certified student HR person.”

Jayla said she came to work in Recreation and Wellness Services (RecWell) for professional development, but that she really likes how friendly it is while working. “You can at least find one person to always hang out and have a conversation with and then at least for Student Personnel Specialists, because we're a small group, we're like a tight knit group.” Jayla said.

Jayla’s position, a Student Personnel Specialist, doesn’t work in typical operations. Student Personnel Specialists work with professional staff members to support the other student employees in RecWell.  Jayla said that she thinks her job in particular has been a great experience for work competency.  “I feel like any job you have will help further your career goals, but I will say for me, especially being a Student Personnel Specialist, I have learned a lot about the NACE Career Readiness Competencies and I feel like it truly has allowed me to grow professionally and in my career development because of the work I do.”

Jayla went on to specify some of the competencies she’s gained from working at RecWell. She cited public speaking as a key area of improvement for her. “For me personally, I've gotten better with public speaking. It's been a huge take away for me because I used to be a nervous wreck, but now being able to facilitate training. I've learned how to be calm while public speaking and doing presentations.”

Jayla said she sought out her position on purpose. She wanted something that would be more professional. “So I had just put in my 2 weeks for my student manager job at Rosie's Diner, through Culinary Services and I wanted a job where I was able to sit down and focus on myself professionally. I went onto Handshake and I found Student Personnel was an option and I thought it would work for me and what I wanted to gain from a work experience.”