Summer Wrap Up and First Week of Classes

Posted September 11, 2024 by Aurora Daniel

It’s so nice to be back at Simmons after a jam-packed summer! I was a fellow for Warrior-Scholar Project, which is a nonprofit that helps veterans and active duty service members transition to college through one to two week bootcamps focused on building core study and writing skills as well as providing information about how to apply to schools. Over the course of the summer I worked at Yale University, the University of Notre Dame, Cornell University, and the The California Institute of Technology. I was a participant way back in 2018 and wouldn’t be in grad school now without it so it was wonderful to be able to give back. Additionally, being a fellow ensured getting some teaching experience under my belt, which was one of my goals for grad school. I led morning study groups and evening college success sessions, helped grade problem sets, and tutored students on their writing and physics. On top of getting to travel and building my professional skills I also made friends and had a lot of fun (late night fro-yo runs with my coworkers were the best!). In many ways I’m bummed I won’t be able to do it next summer because I need to prioritize LIS experience but I’m grateful I could fit it in this one.

Me in my work uniform having fun at our course handover party at Yale

This job was also flexible enough that I could take an online class so I got through LIS 488: Technology for Information Professionals. It felt like a counterweight to the high interpersonal demands of my job because I got to turn my thinking brain off and just code. Despite feeling nervous at the start due to my limited tech background, I enjoyed the coding labs and the research projects. I pushed myself to take on more complicated subjects so I wasn’t just going through the motions. I researched Data Structures and Algorithms, Blockchains, and Javascript. While I don’t see myself taking another tech class during my time at Simmons I do think this could be useful for future work especially with museum and archival databases as well as public history projects like creating online history walking tours.

After a short break spent up in the White Mountains in New Hampshire I’m back in classes. This semester brings a lot of fun and excitement. I started working part time at Simmons’ Beatley Library as a Reference Assistant. This is my first actual library job. It’s been fun learning the pace and demands of an academic library, how to respond to our Ask a Librarian chats, and how to retrieve and reshelve books using Library of Congress Catalog Numbers. While in the spring I wrote about my struggles with choosing courses I actually ended up getting to take everything I want. I’m enrolled in HIST 597: Historical Methods, LIS 446: Art Documentation, and LIS 532Q: Introduction to Museum Studies. I decided to put off LIS 438: Introduction to Archival Methods and Services until spring 2025 because I got an internship at the Boston City Archives working on a digitization project. I’ll discuss that more in my next post.

I realize it may seem ironic to say this semester is more relaxed compared to my summer considering how much I have going on, but I already feel myself falling into a routine at work and with my classes. I’m also not traveling every other week so that may be a key part of it too! Regardless, it’s rewarding to be engaged in tasks and projects that are preparing me for my future career. I’m looking forward to sharing more about it all in the upcoming weeks!