Reflections on a New School Year
Posted September 14, 2026 by Brooke Thomson
Hi readers!
It’s been a while since you heard from me last. This Fall ‘26 marks my second year in the Archives concentration here at SLIS, which is crazy to think about. What do you mean, one more semester and then I’m done? It’s especially daunting when I think about how I’ve been a student for quite literally my entire life. I am 24 years old. People have been asking me lately if
I’m excited to finish soon, and the answer I’ve been giving is “yes and no.” Yes, because I’m excited for what it means. I need this degree to advance in the field, and in theory, with it doors should open for me that didn’t before. And I’m excited to see who I really am outside of school. Will I actually never go back? Will I discover that I’m a forever student, and find another degree
to claim? Who knows! And no, because my journey thus far hasn’t filled me with as much confidence in the future as I’d like. I apply to jobs every week, if not every day, and have scarcely landed an interview, much less an actual position. I scour job boards until my eyes go blurry and I fall asleep despondent. In class, I hear about funding cuts and the word “competitive” more times than I can count. My professors intersperse their lectures with humorous asides like, “that’s the way it should be, at least—we’re never so lucky!” and my classmates laugh, the expected response. But I find it hard to. It’s really not funny. I suppose if they don’t laugh, they’ll cry.
If you can’t tell already, I’m a little fatigued by it all. It’s honestly why it’s taken me a second to get back to writing anything for you. But today’s a new day! The weather is beautiful and I’ve got my windows open. My sheets are in the wash, there’s a caprese flatbread working in the oven, and my Dad sent me a playlist of 1990s rock to listen to while I work. I’ll get my break one day.
And this experience is just my own. For every rejection I get (or general lack of response, more like), I log onto LinkedIn and find that one of my classmates has succeeded where I did not. Last semester, in my Field Experience class, one student’s internship turned into a full time job. When we went around the room doing introductions in class two days ago, another mentioned
working at a job that I had applied for. Little moments like these are quite common. So it’s not like everything is doom and gloom out here, it just actually is that competitive. I’m happy for their success. And I eagerly look forward to the day that I can share similar news about myself.
As I write this, it’s Week 3 of the semester. I’m enrolled in LIS442 Establish Archives & Manuscript, LIS507 Museum Studies, and LIS439 Preservation Management. So far I don’t have a favorite, but there’s a big assignment in 442 that involves selecting an archives to visit and interviewing a manager there. I already have an idea of who I’d like to reach out to for this—someone who rejected me actually, but was quite nice about it—so I’m excited to work on that. I’m still running one of our student groups at SLIS — Panopticon and am acting in the role of Archivist of SCIRRT. My goal today is to work on the new website for SCIRRT after I finish this blog, but we’ll see. Making a website is surprisingly arduous, even if I’m just using Google Sites. I hope the finished product is helpful to someone. We’ve got a lot of resources we’re excited to share over there, especially about study abroad opportunities for LIS.
One of my bucket list items this Fall is to set up an appointment with the career center. I’m someone who tends to avoid advising and asking for help in general, so this is a big deal for me. I don’t have a plan beyond a general cry for help. We’ll see how it turns out. Another bucket list item is organizing a potluck for SLIS via Panopticon—an Edible Art potluck to be precise! It’s something I’ve wanted to do since I was an undergrad at Florida State, and I really want to see it come to fruition before I leave for good. My plan is to situate it near Thanksgiving as a kind of SLIS Friendsgiving. Fingers crossed. There’s more in the works, but I’ll close here for now. Just wanted to say hi to you all and update you on where I’m at. See you soon with more news!