January 14, 2025 • 22 mins
Solena Ornelas, MA, started her college career at Dominican University of California, earning her Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and Music. She then continued on to New York University to pursue a Master of Arts in Art Politics, and is now a civil servant as congressional staffer.
In this interview Solena outlines how she started with her portfolio and developed it over time, and what the main uses are for her: goal setting and showcasing her accomplishments as a multi-talented performance artist, activist, academic, and civil servant.
This episode kicks of a mini-series with five portfolio authors from Dominican University of California whom I was privileged to meet in preparation for and during the first AAEEBL ePortfolio Retreat that was held at Dominican on 18 October 2024.
Connect with Solena on LinkedIn
Resources
- Solena's portfolio
- The Dominican Experience, of which the portfolio work is part
- Digital portfolio support at Dominican
- Integrative coaches at Dominican
- Christina Mayes, MS, Manager of the Fletcher Jones Digital Portfolio Lab
- Associate Professor Alison Howard, MA, Director of Core Curriculum
- Jonathan Lear (2008). Radical hope. Harvard University Press.
- On Nina Simone's activism
Related Dominican University of California episodes:
- Starlight (José) Lain-Straus: The portfolio as impactful practice for students
- KatieAnn Nguyen: Showcase your achievements in a portfolio and be proud of them
- Arturo Flores, Jr.: The portfolio is a reflection of yourself
Subscribe to the monthly newsletter about Mahara and portfolios.
Production information
Production: Catalyst IT
Host: Kristina Hoeppner
Artwork: Evonne Cheung
Music: The Mahara tune by Josh Woodward
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristina Hoeppner (00:05):
Welcome to 'Create. Share. Engage.' This is
the podcast about portfolios forlearning and more for educators,
learning designers, and managerskeen on integrating portfolios
with their education andprofessional development
practices. 'Create. Share.
Engage.' is brought to you bythe Mahara team at Catalyst IT.
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
(00:28):
Today I'm speaking with SolenaOrnelas She's a graduate of
Dominican University ofCalifornia, where she earned her
Bachelor of Arts in PoliticalScience and Music, and New York
University, where she earned herMaster of Arts in Art Politics.
Christina Mayes, the Manager ofthe Fletcher Jones Digital
Portfolio Lab at Dominican andone of this year's new AAEEBL
(00:51):
Digital Ethics Task Forcemembers, recommended I have a
chat with her former studentSolena. Welcome to the podcast!
Solena Ornelas (00:59):
Thank you, Kristina. I'm happy to be here.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:01):
I've already mentioned that you have a
Bachelor of Arts from DominicanUniversity of California and
also now a Master's of Arts inArt Politics from NYU. Can you
please tell me a little bit moreabout yourself? What do you do?
Solena Ornelas (01:16):
I am a performance artist, an activist,
and an academic. My goal is tobe a political science
researcher, but I currently workin civil service. I am a
congressional staffer for asenior ranking member in the
118th Congress, and I lookforward to continuing that work,
working for constituents, butalso at the same time,
(01:37):
continuing my work as aconceptual artist in New York.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:40):
That is quite a lot of things, which we can
also see actually on yourportfolio because you have
outlined all of your differentareas of interests there very
well, and I'll make sure to linkto that. Solena, thank you so
much for sharing howmulti-interested you are in so
many different things, and that,of course, for me, begs the
(02:03):
question, because I know whatpolitical science is, I know
what music is, but I've neverput them together in a master's
programme yet. And you studiedArt Politics. What does that
actually entail, and how do youcontinue with your research in
that area?
Solena Ornelas (02:20):
I was prompted by a video I saw of Nina Simone
speaking at one of her concertswhere an audience member asked
her, "Why do you feel the needto advocate for individuals at
the margins who are historicallymarginalised?" And she said,
plainly, "I'm a woman of colour.
I have no other choice." And sothat led me down this path of
how am I going to activelyhighlight marginalised
(02:41):
individual story through my workas an artist? Through that, I
was prompted to compose piecesthat highlighted historically
marginalised folks stories, andthen in my master's programme at
NYU, my research particularlyfocused on political
performance. So how are blackpolitical figures, particularly
(03:02):
in the global west, performingbecause of differing factors,
mainly being white supremacy,and how are black political
figures in the global west madeto perform? And I found that art
and politics is never disjointedand that the political time
always informs the art we'remaking. That's how I was able to
(03:24):
conjoin the two.
Kristina Hoeppner (03:28):
Thank you for making that connection clearer.
Solena, since Christinaintroduced me to you, I learned
that you started creating yourfirst portfolio at Dominican
University of California on theother end of the country in the
United States. When was that?
When did you start working withportfolios?
Solena Ornelas (03:47):
I first began my portfolio in the fall of 2020. I
was a freshman in college, and Istarted at Dominican during the
height of the pandemic. So myportfolio was started completely
online. At Dominican, you had totake an introductory course when
you entered college that wascalled 'Mastering College' at
the time. The advisor that youwere paired with in 'Mastering
(04:10):
College' had you complete anumber of tasks, one of them
being beginning the portfolio.
What's really interesting whenyou first begin the portfolio at
Dominican, it's more so goalsetting. So it's not necessarily
showcasing the work you'vealready done. It's setting
yourself up to what you wouldlike to achieve throughout your
time at Dominican.
Kristina Hoeppner (04:32):
So pretty much everybody at Dominican then
would have had a portfoliostarting in their freshman year.
Solena Ornelas (04:38):
Yes, that's correct.
Kristina Hoeppner (04:39):
That is so absolutely fantastic. That
portfolio then that you started,did you keep up with it
throughout the four years, ordid you then enter different
phases of creating differentportfolios? What did your
portfolio journey look like?
Solena Ornelas (04:55):
That's a really interesting question, and I
think the answer would varybased on the student that you
ask at Dominican. For me, I wasreally focused on setting up
achievable goals in myportfolio. So with that being
said, every single year I was astudent at Dominican, I would
look back and see how I wasprogressing. However, I know
some other students would placetheir portfolio to the side
(05:18):
their sophomore, junior years,and revisit during their senior
year and check mark if they hadachieved some of those goals
they had initially set duringtheir freshman year.
For me as a music student, I wasalways interested in keeping up
my portfolio on the repertoire Iwas getting done, the classes I
was getting done as well becauseI would oftentimes use my
portfolio as a way to showcasemy work. If I was auditioning
(05:41):
for an orchestra, or if I wantedto go into an ensemble, I would
show 'Professor, oh, these arethe ensembles I already have
done. This is what my repertoirelooks like as well.'
Kristina Hoeppner (05:52):
At that time then, while you were actively
building your portfolio, wasthat then already public to
everybody, or did you createdifferent portfolios for the
audience with whom you wanted toshare something specifically?
Solena Ornelas (06:05):
My portfolio has always been public, and I've
always made sure to decipher thework that I wanted to showcase,
and I never necessarily changedthe way I present myself to a
particular audience just becauseI feel as though who I am is
ultimately multi-hyphenate as aresearcher, performance artist,
(06:26):
and also civil servant. One ofthose categories never outweighs
the other. If I was presentingmy portfolio to someone in the
music space, I didn'tnecessarily just put music on my
portfolio, always had everysingle category.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:41):
Which I think also makes sense because you
have that dual major in thesetwo very distinct areas, and so,
of course, you always live onthat intersection there.
Solena Ornelas (06:52):
Yeah, that's correct.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:53):
What kind of support did you receive from the
Dominican team? You did mentionthat it was part of a course
that you went through and thenalso you kept up with your
portfolio throughout the years.
What did that look like?
Solena Ornelas (07:07):
Initially at Dominican, you were matched with
an integrative coach who assistsyou in your transition in to
college. My integrative coach atDominican was very helpful in
laying out how a portfolio couldlook, the different options for
setting up a portfolio, and shemade sure to set up a specific
(07:28):
time which each student in theclass. So that was very helpful
because she not only askedquestions about my professional
goals, but also personal goalsas well. Why am I pursuing what
I'm pursuing, political scienceand music, that allowed me to
uncover some of the portions yousee on my portfolio today where
I define myself as afirst-generation student and a
(07:49):
civil servant and performanceartist. Those all go back to the
initial conversation I had withmy integrative coach on why I am
interested in music andpolitical science.
Kristina Hoeppner (08:00):
From what I'm hearing, Solena, is that you
have been going through quite abit of an iterative cycle there
with your portfolio. You'velooked at it, you've revisited
it, you've reflected on what youhave done, you've done that
across the different years thatyou were at university. Is that
understanding of mine correct?
Solena Ornelas (08:18):
That's completely correct. It's a
really gratifying process to beable to look back at your work
and see how much you've grownpersonally and professionally.
So as I mentioned before, thefirst year you set up your
digital portfolio, it's reallygoal setting. What are some of
the goals I want to achievethroughout my collegiate career?
(08:38):
By your senior year, in yoursenior seminar course, which I
took with Alison Howard, who isalso a great mentor and someone
who helped build my portfoliointo what it is today, we really
got to look back and say, 'Hey,did I meet these goals? Or what
do I want to do next to help megrow personally and
(09:00):
professionally?' And so by mysenior year, I was able to
really just be proud of myselfat all the work I had done
musically, but then also say,'Hey, what else have I done
throughout my college careerthat I can add to this?' Maybe I
was a resident advisor that Icould add. Or maybe the fact
that I was a resident advisordoesn't necessarily fit into my
(09:20):
career goals moving forward. Andso Alison was a really great
help in helping me decipher whatdifferent parts of myself and
different parts of my collegiateexperience I should add on to my
digital portfolio.
So by the time I was in gradschool at NYU, I really had a
(09:42):
good foundational building blockof this is the research I'm
interested in. How can Icontinue to build onto that?
This is who I am as a musician.
How can I continue to build ontothat? And really build a
portfolio that is streamlined,and I say streamlined because I
think that even though, as wewere talking about before, music
and political science seeminglyare completely different things,
(10:05):
for me, they're integrated, andI hope, through my digital
portfolio, it's telling a story,and I'm only able to tell a
story because of thefoundational work done
throughout the years.
Kristina Hoeppner (10:20):
Your portfolio does make that very
clear of who you are, and byhaving all of these aspects of
you in there, we see you as awhole person. Solena, did you
keep the old versions of yourportfolio then or have you
always iterated over oneportfolio and only have that
current version?
Solena Ornelas (10:37):
I was just thinking about that the other
day that I wish I had keptdigital versions of my portfolio
every time I had updated it, butunfortunately, no, I just have
the current version that's grownand grown over the years.
Kristina Hoeppner (10:51):
Maybe that's something to pay more attention
to in the portfolio world tomake that looking back even a
bit easier for people who areinterested in that. Solena, you
mentioned that you've workedwith your integrative coach in
the first year, when you wereintroduced to Dominican and
received support in startingyour portfolio, and also of how
(11:12):
to be a college student. Andthen we jumped to the end, where
you worked with Alison. Have youalso shared your portfolio with
other students?
Solena Ornelas (11:21):
We did engage in a peer review cycle both, when
we had initially set up ourportfolios my freshman year
during 'Mastering college,' wehad taken a look at everyone's
via Zoom because that was stillthe era where we were taking
Zoom classes. And then my senioryear of university as well, in
Alison's 'Senior seminar'course, we also did a peer
(11:42):
review cycle, which I foundparticularly helpful because I
was receiving feedback from mypeers who are similar
generation, so we kind of have adifferent perception of
technology and media-basedplatforms as well that I found
helpful. So there was a widerange of opinions on 'Hey, why
did you choose to use thatpicture for this specific topic?
(12:06):
Does it tie in nicely with whatyou're trying to communicate?'
Just getting feedback from notonly advisors, but also peers
who are going through the sameexact process as you is so
helpful because they're probablyasking the question because they
want to know for themselves.
Kristina Hoeppner (12:21):
Since we've started on the benefits of
portfolios for students, wheredo you see the benefits that you
had in creating a portfolio,engaging in that reflective
process, and working also on itcontinuously throughout your
university career?
Solena Ornelas (12:36):
During undergrad, the portfolio process
was particularly helpful inhelping me see what I need to
spend more time doing, whetherthat be internships, more
research experiences, or beingmore involved in student led
organisations on campus becauseit really allows you to have
(12:59):
your collegiate experience in atangible way. Even though it's a
meta based platform, it's verytangible. You can clearly see
that if you have no internshipexperience, or if you, for a
musician, haven't had enoughperformance experiences, That
was helpful throughout mycollegiate experience because I
got to really look at what Ineeded to pay more attention to,
(13:21):
what I needed to get out ofcollege as well, and it's much
more hands on and also more funto create than just a résumé.
When I was applying to gradschool, it was particularly
helpful as well because Isubmitted my portfolio alongside
my application documents, whichfor a conceptual artist is such
a benefit because it's difficultfor us to communicate something
(13:45):
that's oftentimes incommunicableon a piece of paper, and so to
be able to do that on a digitalportfolio, I think it's just a
benefit for individuals who arenot easily confined by one
media.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:00):
Is there anything else where you see that
it's useful, not just for you asa musician, because we know that
artists in particular benefitfrom portfolios because you can
showcase what you do, what youlike, and how you work, and that
gives the recipient a betteridea if they like that style of
music or style of painting orstyle of architecture, but has
(14:24):
the portfolio also helped you inyour congressional career after
university now? Do you see anybenefits for students keeping up
with their portfolios postgraduation?
Solena Ornelas (14:38):
I think so. I'm going to answer this question
specifically tailored to myresearch experience. So my
undergraduate thesis exploredhow congressional members framed
the issue of gun violence.
Within the examples and withinthe research methods, I explored
a lot of rhetoric that was usedparticularly by congressional
(15:00):
black caucus members who areactive in the caucus and hold
leadership positions. Now fastforward, two years later, I
recently just attended theCongressional Black Caucus
Institute. I had the opportunityto meet most of the
Congressional Black Caucusactive congressional members,
and so what I added that onto myportfolio because it was able to
(15:22):
create a very linear, upwardpath in my research experiences
and also tactile congressionalexperiences as well, in terms of
writing about something in avery conceptual way, and then
also being able to have thishands on experience where I'm
actually meeting and havingconversations with these
(15:43):
congressional members.
That way, that was very helpfulbecause I was able to see how
these two things that seeminglyare different aren't necessarily
different, and how can I tiethat in future research
experiences as well. I thinkthat also does a good job at
asserting to the audience,whether that may be a review
(16:05):
panel, if I'm submitting anapplication for a fellowship or
a grant, that I haveexperiences, both conceptually
in research certainly, but alsoin a tactile way, and that they
tie into one another nicely aswell.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:23):
Basically, also, from what I think I'm
hearing, is that you could honeyour reflective skills quite a
bit through having been able tocreate a portfolio, having been
introduced to the portfolioearly on in your college
experience because now you canbenefit from all of those
thinking processes in your work.
Solena Ornelas (16:42):
Exactly?
Kristina Hoeppner (16:43):
Do you then, actually, also planning on
keeping up with your portfolio?
Solena Ornelas (16:47):
Yes, I would love to keep up with my
portfolio. My goal and mybiggest dream is to earn my PhD,
and so I'm currently applying toPhD programmes. It's something
that I like to keep up with aswell because I don't necessarily
have published works injournals, and so to be able to
showcase multiple works that areintricately aligned with each
(17:08):
other is something that'simportant to me to showcase to
whatever audience I'm showcasingthat to. Digital portfolio is a
really good way to do that aswell.
I also have included a link tomy digital portfolio on my
résumé. Whether or not they lookat it, that's up to them, and
I'm not necessarily sure it'sappropriate for every single job
(17:30):
application, but it's certainlyan option. And I think for
multi-hyphenate individuals whoare interested in multiple
pathways and do not wantthemselves to be flattened, it's
a good way to communicateyourself.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:43):
Because it really also tells that story
about who you are and not justthat one section that we often
see in a CV.
Solena Ornelas (17:50):
Exactly.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:52):
Solena, that already now takes us to the last
three questions. So the firstone is, which words or short
phrases do you use to describeportfolio work?
Solena Ornelas (18:02):
I would say it's meticulous, also fun. I would
describe a portfolio as funbecause it's almost like a
professional social mediaaccount, and you get to tailor
it to a very specific audienceand almost kind of manipulate
the way in which people perceiveyour work. So that's the way I
(18:23):
would describe that.
Kristina Hoeppner (18:24):
So we have meticulous and fun, and what was
the third one if you had thethird one?
Solena Ornelas (18:29):
Multi-hyphenate.
Kristina Hoeppner (18:31):
Thank you for those. Now Solena, what tip do
you have for learning designersor instructors who create
portfolio activities forstudents or maybe even
professionals at some point?
Solena Ornelas (18:44):
When a student is initially creating a digital
portfolio, I think it'simportant that they include
every single aspect ofthemselves, specifically if
they're early on in theircollege career or early on in
professional development aswell, because one interest can
turn into a larger one, andlater on, that might be a larger
(19:05):
portion of their digitalportfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (19:08):
Thank you.
That's a wonderful piece ofadvice to really show the person
as a whole person, tell thatentire learner story there.
Solena Ornelas (19:15):
When I was a senior in Alison Howard's
'Senior seminar' course, I had aportion on my digital portfolio
that she blatantly said, "Well,maybe a year ago, that would
have looked great, but now, Ithink, you've outgrown that." So
adding it on, you could alwaystake it off later, but never
just leave an experience off ofyour digital portfolio to begin
(19:37):
with.
Kristina Hoeppner (19:38):
Yeah, it's that curation element that
portfolios also have in there,which I think we've also seen in
your portfolio, how youexplained it, how you went from
the first iteration to the next,and then to the one that we are
seeing online now. And now thelast question, what advice do
you have for students or forportfolio authors in general of
(19:59):
any age?
Solena Ornelas (20:00):
The advice I would have is tell your story
authentically, the way that youwould want people to perceive
you, but also something thatfeels true to you. So the way in
which I approach my digitalportfolio is very similar to a
research paper. I start off withan introduction and then present
(20:20):
that theoretical framework thenthat informs my work, so maybe
authors, but also I allude toradical hope. So there's
different ways in which Iapproach my digital portfolio
that aren't necessarilytraditional, but very true to
who I am and very true to mywork. I make concessions where
(20:41):
concessions need to be made, butI never sacrifice my
authenticity, but it stillremains professional, and that
would be the same advice I wouldgive to other students.
Kristina Hoeppner (20:52):
Thank you so much for that wonderful piece of
advice to bring in yourauthentic self and also how you
want to be perceived. Solena,it's been an absolute pleasure
to have had the chance tointerview you tonight in your
time zone, and I wish you allthe best for your PhD
applications that you can pursuethe studies that you want to do
(21:16):
in your area, and therefore alsocontribute to the research in
order to benefit many communitymembers. Thank you so much.
Solena Ornelas (21:26):
Thank you for having me on tonight.
Kristina Hoeppner (21:29):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with SolenaOrnelas, the first of five
interviews with students andstaff from Dominican University
of California. Head to ourwebsite, podcast.mahara.org,
(21:49):
where you can find resources andthe transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT, and I'm your host,
Kristina Hoeppner, Project Leadand Product Manager of the
portfolio platform Mahara. Ournext episode will air in two
weeks, and you'll learn moreabout how deeply rooted
portfolio practice has become atDominican. I hope you'll listen
(22:11):
again and tell a colleague aboutour podcast so they can
subscribe. Until then create,share, and engage.
Welcome to 'Create. Share. Engage.' This is
the podcast about portfolios forlearning and more for educators,
learning designers, and managerskeen on integrating portfolios
with their education andprofessional development
practices. 'Create. Share.
Engage.' is brought to you bythe Mahara team at Catalyst IT.
My name is Kristina Hoeppner.
(00:28):
Today I'm speaking with SolenaOrnelas She's a graduate of
Dominican University ofCalifornia, where she earned her
Bachelor of Arts in PoliticalScience and Music, and New York
University, where she earned herMaster of Arts in Art Politics.
Christina Mayes, the Manager ofthe Fletcher Jones Digital
Portfolio Lab at Dominican andone of this year's new AAEEBL
(00:51):
Digital Ethics Task Forcemembers, recommended I have a
chat with her former studentSolena. Welcome to the podcast!
Solena Ornelas (00:59):
Thank you, Kristina. I'm happy to be here.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:01):
I've already mentioned that you have a
Bachelor of Arts from DominicanUniversity of California and
also now a Master's of Arts inArt Politics from NYU. Can you
please tell me a little bit moreabout yourself? What do you do?
Solena Ornelas (01:16):
I am a performance artist, an activist,
and an academic. My goal is tobe a political science
researcher, but I currently workin civil service. I am a
congressional staffer for asenior ranking member in the
118th Congress, and I lookforward to continuing that work,
working for constituents, butalso at the same time,
(01:37):
continuing my work as aconceptual artist in New York.
Kristina Hoeppner (01:40):
That is quite a lot of things, which we can
also see actually on yourportfolio because you have
outlined all of your differentareas of interests there very
well, and I'll make sure to linkto that. Solena, thank you so
much for sharing howmulti-interested you are in so
many different things, and that,of course, for me, begs the
(02:03):
question, because I know whatpolitical science is, I know
what music is, but I've neverput them together in a master's
programme yet. And you studiedArt Politics. What does that
actually entail, and how do youcontinue with your research in
that area?
Solena Ornelas (02:20):
I was prompted by a video I saw of Nina Simone
speaking at one of her concertswhere an audience member asked
her, "Why do you feel the needto advocate for individuals at
the margins who are historicallymarginalised?" And she said,
plainly, "I'm a woman of colour.
I have no other choice." And sothat led me down this path of
how am I going to activelyhighlight marginalised
(02:41):
individual story through my workas an artist? Through that, I
was prompted to compose piecesthat highlighted historically
marginalised folks stories, andthen in my master's programme at
NYU, my research particularlyfocused on political
performance. So how are blackpolitical figures, particularly
(03:02):
in the global west, performingbecause of differing factors,
mainly being white supremacy,and how are black political
figures in the global west madeto perform? And I found that art
and politics is never disjointedand that the political time
always informs the art we'remaking. That's how I was able to
(03:24):
conjoin the two.
Kristina Hoeppner (03:28):
Thank you for making that connection clearer.
Solena, since Christinaintroduced me to you, I learned
that you started creating yourfirst portfolio at Dominican
University of California on theother end of the country in the
United States. When was that?
When did you start working withportfolios?
Solena Ornelas (03:47):
I first began my portfolio in the fall of 2020. I
was a freshman in college, and Istarted at Dominican during the
height of the pandemic. So myportfolio was started completely
online. At Dominican, you had totake an introductory course when
you entered college that wascalled 'Mastering College' at
the time. The advisor that youwere paired with in 'Mastering
(04:10):
College' had you complete anumber of tasks, one of them
being beginning the portfolio.
What's really interesting whenyou first begin the portfolio at
Dominican, it's more so goalsetting. So it's not necessarily
showcasing the work you'vealready done. It's setting
yourself up to what you wouldlike to achieve throughout your
time at Dominican.
Kristina Hoeppner (04:32):
So pretty much everybody at Dominican then
would have had a portfoliostarting in their freshman year.
Solena Ornelas (04:38):
Yes, that's correct.
Kristina Hoeppner (04:39):
That is so absolutely fantastic. That
portfolio then that you started,did you keep up with it
throughout the four years, ordid you then enter different
phases of creating differentportfolios? What did your
portfolio journey look like?
Solena Ornelas (04:55):
That's a really interesting question, and I
think the answer would varybased on the student that you
ask at Dominican. For me, I wasreally focused on setting up
achievable goals in myportfolio. So with that being
said, every single year I was astudent at Dominican, I would
look back and see how I wasprogressing. However, I know
some other students would placetheir portfolio to the side
(05:18):
their sophomore, junior years,and revisit during their senior
year and check mark if they hadachieved some of those goals
they had initially set duringtheir freshman year.
For me as a music student, I wasalways interested in keeping up
my portfolio on the repertoire Iwas getting done, the classes I
was getting done as well becauseI would oftentimes use my
portfolio as a way to showcasemy work. If I was auditioning
(05:41):
for an orchestra, or if I wantedto go into an ensemble, I would
show 'Professor, oh, these arethe ensembles I already have
done. This is what my repertoirelooks like as well.'
Kristina Hoeppner (05:52):
At that time then, while you were actively
building your portfolio, wasthat then already public to
everybody, or did you createdifferent portfolios for the
audience with whom you wanted toshare something specifically?
Solena Ornelas (06:05):
My portfolio has always been public, and I've
always made sure to decipher thework that I wanted to showcase,
and I never necessarily changedthe way I present myself to a
particular audience just becauseI feel as though who I am is
ultimately multi-hyphenate as aresearcher, performance artist,
(06:26):
and also civil servant. One ofthose categories never outweighs
the other. If I was presentingmy portfolio to someone in the
music space, I didn'tnecessarily just put music on my
portfolio, always had everysingle category.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:41):
Which I think also makes sense because you
have that dual major in thesetwo very distinct areas, and so,
of course, you always live onthat intersection there.
Solena Ornelas (06:52):
Yeah, that's correct.
Kristina Hoeppner (06:53):
What kind of support did you receive from the
Dominican team? You did mentionthat it was part of a course
that you went through and thenalso you kept up with your
portfolio throughout the years.
What did that look like?
Solena Ornelas (07:07):
Initially at Dominican, you were matched with
an integrative coach who assistsyou in your transition in to
college. My integrative coach atDominican was very helpful in
laying out how a portfolio couldlook, the different options for
setting up a portfolio, and shemade sure to set up a specific
(07:28):
time which each student in theclass. So that was very helpful
because she not only askedquestions about my professional
goals, but also personal goalsas well. Why am I pursuing what
I'm pursuing, political scienceand music, that allowed me to
uncover some of the portions yousee on my portfolio today where
I define myself as afirst-generation student and a
(07:49):
civil servant and performanceartist. Those all go back to the
initial conversation I had withmy integrative coach on why I am
interested in music andpolitical science.
Kristina Hoeppner (08:00):
From what I'm hearing, Solena, is that you
have been going through quite abit of an iterative cycle there
with your portfolio. You'velooked at it, you've revisited
it, you've reflected on what youhave done, you've done that
across the different years thatyou were at university. Is that
understanding of mine correct?
Solena Ornelas (08:18):
That's completely correct. It's a
really gratifying process to beable to look back at your work
and see how much you've grownpersonally and professionally.
So as I mentioned before, thefirst year you set up your
digital portfolio, it's reallygoal setting. What are some of
the goals I want to achievethroughout my collegiate career?
(08:38):
By your senior year, in yoursenior seminar course, which I
took with Alison Howard, who isalso a great mentor and someone
who helped build my portfoliointo what it is today, we really
got to look back and say, 'Hey,did I meet these goals? Or what
do I want to do next to help megrow personally and
(09:00):
professionally?' And so by mysenior year, I was able to
really just be proud of myselfat all the work I had done
musically, but then also say,'Hey, what else have I done
throughout my college careerthat I can add to this?' Maybe I
was a resident advisor that Icould add. Or maybe the fact
that I was a resident advisordoesn't necessarily fit into my
(09:20):
career goals moving forward. Andso Alison was a really great
help in helping me decipher whatdifferent parts of myself and
different parts of my collegiateexperience I should add on to my
digital portfolio.
So by the time I was in gradschool at NYU, I really had a
(09:42):
good foundational building blockof this is the research I'm
interested in. How can Icontinue to build onto that?
This is who I am as a musician.
How can I continue to build ontothat? And really build a
portfolio that is streamlined,and I say streamlined because I
think that even though, as wewere talking about before, music
and political science seeminglyare completely different things,
(10:05):
for me, they're integrated, andI hope, through my digital
portfolio, it's telling a story,and I'm only able to tell a
story because of thefoundational work done
throughout the years.
Kristina Hoeppner (10:20):
Your portfolio does make that very
clear of who you are, and byhaving all of these aspects of
you in there, we see you as awhole person. Solena, did you
keep the old versions of yourportfolio then or have you
always iterated over oneportfolio and only have that
current version?
Solena Ornelas (10:37):
I was just thinking about that the other
day that I wish I had keptdigital versions of my portfolio
every time I had updated it, butunfortunately, no, I just have
the current version that's grownand grown over the years.
Kristina Hoeppner (10:51):
Maybe that's something to pay more attention
to in the portfolio world tomake that looking back even a
bit easier for people who areinterested in that. Solena, you
mentioned that you've workedwith your integrative coach in
the first year, when you wereintroduced to Dominican and
received support in startingyour portfolio, and also of how
(11:12):
to be a college student. Andthen we jumped to the end, where
you worked with Alison. Have youalso shared your portfolio with
other students?
Solena Ornelas (11:21):
We did engage in a peer review cycle both, when
we had initially set up ourportfolios my freshman year
during 'Mastering college,' wehad taken a look at everyone's
via Zoom because that was stillthe era where we were taking
Zoom classes. And then my senioryear of university as well, in
Alison's 'Senior seminar'course, we also did a peer
(11:42):
review cycle, which I foundparticularly helpful because I
was receiving feedback from mypeers who are similar
generation, so we kind of have adifferent perception of
technology and media-basedplatforms as well that I found
helpful. So there was a widerange of opinions on 'Hey, why
did you choose to use thatpicture for this specific topic?
(12:06):
Does it tie in nicely with whatyou're trying to communicate?'
Just getting feedback from notonly advisors, but also peers
who are going through the sameexact process as you is so
helpful because they're probablyasking the question because they
want to know for themselves.
Kristina Hoeppner (12:21):
Since we've started on the benefits of
portfolios for students, wheredo you see the benefits that you
had in creating a portfolio,engaging in that reflective
process, and working also on itcontinuously throughout your
university career?
Solena Ornelas (12:36):
During undergrad, the portfolio process
was particularly helpful inhelping me see what I need to
spend more time doing, whetherthat be internships, more
research experiences, or beingmore involved in student led
organisations on campus becauseit really allows you to have
(12:59):
your collegiate experience in atangible way. Even though it's a
meta based platform, it's verytangible. You can clearly see
that if you have no internshipexperience, or if you, for a
musician, haven't had enoughperformance experiences, That
was helpful throughout mycollegiate experience because I
got to really look at what Ineeded to pay more attention to,
(13:21):
what I needed to get out ofcollege as well, and it's much
more hands on and also more funto create than just a résumé.
When I was applying to gradschool, it was particularly
helpful as well because Isubmitted my portfolio alongside
my application documents, whichfor a conceptual artist is such
a benefit because it's difficultfor us to communicate something
(13:45):
that's oftentimes incommunicableon a piece of paper, and so to
be able to do that on a digitalportfolio, I think it's just a
benefit for individuals who arenot easily confined by one
media.
Kristina Hoeppner (14:00):
Is there anything else where you see that
it's useful, not just for you asa musician, because we know that
artists in particular benefitfrom portfolios because you can
showcase what you do, what youlike, and how you work, and that
gives the recipient a betteridea if they like that style of
music or style of painting orstyle of architecture, but has
(14:24):
the portfolio also helped you inyour congressional career after
university now? Do you see anybenefits for students keeping up
with their portfolios postgraduation?
Solena Ornelas (14:38):
I think so. I'm going to answer this question
specifically tailored to myresearch experience. So my
undergraduate thesis exploredhow congressional members framed
the issue of gun violence.
Within the examples and withinthe research methods, I explored
a lot of rhetoric that was usedparticularly by congressional
(15:00):
black caucus members who areactive in the caucus and hold
leadership positions. Now fastforward, two years later, I
recently just attended theCongressional Black Caucus
Institute. I had the opportunityto meet most of the
Congressional Black Caucusactive congressional members,
and so what I added that onto myportfolio because it was able to
(15:22):
create a very linear, upwardpath in my research experiences
and also tactile congressionalexperiences as well, in terms of
writing about something in avery conceptual way, and then
also being able to have thishands on experience where I'm
actually meeting and havingconversations with these
(15:43):
congressional members.
That way, that was very helpfulbecause I was able to see how
these two things that seeminglyare different aren't necessarily
different, and how can I tiethat in future research
experiences as well. I thinkthat also does a good job at
asserting to the audience,whether that may be a review
(16:05):
panel, if I'm submitting anapplication for a fellowship or
a grant, that I haveexperiences, both conceptually
in research certainly, but alsoin a tactile way, and that they
tie into one another nicely aswell.
Kristina Hoeppner (16:23):
Basically, also, from what I think I'm
hearing, is that you could honeyour reflective skills quite a
bit through having been able tocreate a portfolio, having been
introduced to the portfolioearly on in your college
experience because now you canbenefit from all of those
thinking processes in your work.
Solena Ornelas (16:42):
Exactly?
Kristina Hoeppner (16:43):
Do you then, actually, also planning on
keeping up with your portfolio?
Solena Ornelas (16:47):
Yes, I would love to keep up with my
portfolio. My goal and mybiggest dream is to earn my PhD,
and so I'm currently applying toPhD programmes. It's something
that I like to keep up with aswell because I don't necessarily
have published works injournals, and so to be able to
showcase multiple works that areintricately aligned with each
(17:08):
other is something that'simportant to me to showcase to
whatever audience I'm showcasingthat to. Digital portfolio is a
really good way to do that aswell.
I also have included a link tomy digital portfolio on my
résumé. Whether or not they lookat it, that's up to them, and
I'm not necessarily sure it'sappropriate for every single job
(17:30):
application, but it's certainlyan option. And I think for
multi-hyphenate individuals whoare interested in multiple
pathways and do not wantthemselves to be flattened, it's
a good way to communicateyourself.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:43):
Because it really also tells that story
about who you are and not justthat one section that we often
see in a CV.
Solena Ornelas (17:50):
Exactly.
Kristina Hoeppner (17:52):
Solena, that already now takes us to the last
three questions. So the firstone is, which words or short
phrases do you use to describeportfolio work?
Solena Ornelas (18:02):
I would say it's meticulous, also fun. I would
describe a portfolio as funbecause it's almost like a
professional social mediaaccount, and you get to tailor
it to a very specific audienceand almost kind of manipulate
the way in which people perceiveyour work. So that's the way I
(18:23):
would describe that.
Kristina Hoeppner (18:24):
So we have meticulous and fun, and what was
the third one if you had thethird one?
Solena Ornelas (18:29):
Multi-hyphenate.
Kristina Hoeppner (18:31):
Thank you for those. Now Solena, what tip do
you have for learning designersor instructors who create
portfolio activities forstudents or maybe even
professionals at some point?
Solena Ornelas (18:44):
When a student is initially creating a digital
portfolio, I think it'simportant that they include
every single aspect ofthemselves, specifically if
they're early on in theircollege career or early on in
professional development aswell, because one interest can
turn into a larger one, andlater on, that might be a larger
(19:05):
portion of their digitalportfolio.
Kristina Hoeppner (19:08):
Thank you.
That's a wonderful piece ofadvice to really show the person
as a whole person, tell thatentire learner story there.
Solena Ornelas (19:15):
When I was a senior in Alison Howard's
'Senior seminar' course, I had aportion on my digital portfolio
that she blatantly said, "Well,maybe a year ago, that would
have looked great, but now, Ithink, you've outgrown that." So
adding it on, you could alwaystake it off later, but never
just leave an experience off ofyour digital portfolio to begin
(19:37):
with.
Kristina Hoeppner (19:38):
Yeah, it's that curation element that
portfolios also have in there,which I think we've also seen in
your portfolio, how youexplained it, how you went from
the first iteration to the next,and then to the one that we are
seeing online now. And now thelast question, what advice do
you have for students or forportfolio authors in general of
(19:59):
any age?
Solena Ornelas (20:00):
The advice I would have is tell your story
authentically, the way that youwould want people to perceive
you, but also something thatfeels true to you. So the way in
which I approach my digitalportfolio is very similar to a
research paper. I start off withan introduction and then present
(20:20):
that theoretical framework thenthat informs my work, so maybe
authors, but also I allude toradical hope. So there's
different ways in which Iapproach my digital portfolio
that aren't necessarilytraditional, but very true to
who I am and very true to mywork. I make concessions where
(20:41):
concessions need to be made, butI never sacrifice my
authenticity, but it stillremains professional, and that
would be the same advice I wouldgive to other students.
Kristina Hoeppner (20:52):
Thank you so much for that wonderful piece of
advice to bring in yourauthentic self and also how you
want to be perceived. Solena,it's been an absolute pleasure
to have had the chance tointerview you tonight in your
time zone, and I wish you allthe best for your PhD
applications that you can pursuethe studies that you want to do
(21:16):
in your area, and therefore alsocontribute to the research in
order to benefit many communitymembers. Thank you so much.
Solena Ornelas (21:26):
Thank you for having me on tonight.
Kristina Hoeppner (21:29):
Now over to our listeners. What do you want
to try in your own portfoliopractice? This was 'Create.
Share. Engage.' with SolenaOrnelas, the first of five
interviews with students andstaff from Dominican University
of California. Head to ourwebsite, podcast.mahara.org,
(21:49):
where you can find resources andthe transcript for this episode.
This podcast is produced byCatalyst IT, and I'm your host,
Kristina Hoeppner, Project Leadand Product Manager of the
portfolio platform Mahara. Ournext episode will air in two
weeks, and you'll learn moreabout how deeply rooted
portfolio practice has become atDominican. I hope you'll listen
(22:11):
again and tell a colleague aboutour podcast so they can
subscribe. Until then create,share, and engage.
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