Graduation
Graduation Celebration Reads!
Posted May 19, 2023 by Lauren Redding
Happy Graduation Day to those who celebrate! I’ve had a week of travel and music and packing since I turned in my last final, and I’ve been celebrating my impending graduation (and the new job for fall in Chelsea School District that I am very excited for) in typical librarian fashion, of course, by reading. Here’s five 50 word recommendations of my celebratory reads, none of which are on the topic of school at all: Mad About You by Mhairi McFarlane McFarlane deals mostly in mid-thirties coming-of-age stories with a romance thrown in there too, and every book I’ve read of hers has been utterly entertaining on every page. Genuinely funny, painfully heartbreaking, and full of well-rounded characters, Mad About You was no exception. Great for fans of dry British humor. When You Get The Chance by Emma Lord Lord writes the type of contemporary YA that sets the standard for the rest. Movie-inspired plot premises become both grounded and heighted in her hands. When You Get The Chance was full of musical theatre references,…
Eras Tour (of my MLIS degree)
Posted May 5, 2023 by Lauren Redding
Graduation in less than two weeks! I feel like it’s coming tomorrow and at the same time I feel like I have a month’s worth of tasks to finish before the big day. While job hunting and revising finals, I’ve been reflecting on the three different “eras” my MLIS degree unfolded in and what I learned about myself and about my work during each of them. First I took a whole year (summer too!) of all-remote classes as a full-time student (from Utah!). My fall semester mostly entailed almost getting a textbook-shaped tan line on my legs from reading on my deck so much. Moodle was kind enough to automatically adjust deadlines for me from Eastern Time midnight to Mountain Time 10pm with its handy dandy by-the-minute deadline countdown timer. (This feature: so clear about expectations and yet so stress inducing. Do I really need to know there are 5 days, 2 hours, 52 minutes and 12 seconds until my quiz is due?) The following semester all my classes were asynchronous, and I realized I…
Back to School: Apprehension & Anticipation
Posted September 6, 2022 by Johnna Purchase
Today marks the start of the another school year at Simmons. For me, it is the start of the in-between year as the dual-degree program is three years. For many of my friends in the single-degree program, today is the beginning of the end as they will graduate in the spring. I will use this year of transition to focus on the topic for my history thesis, to become more intentional with my “yes-es” to opportunities that align with my professional goals, to better articulate my professional goals. Already I’m thinking about how best to use the upcoming summer – an LIS course? an internship in a new city? researching abroad for my thesis? volunteering at the National Book Festival in D.C.? Single-degree students face a different set of tasks and questions. Their year is one of job applications and savoring grad student life, of apprehension at the application-interview cycle, of anticipation of fulfilling professional careers and proper paychecks. We are each in different places on the apprehension-anticipation spectrum, but we all share one common…
Warm Weather and Future Plans
Posted July 8, 2022 by Ivy Noonan
Happy Summer! I hope everyone has been enjoying the weather and has had a restful July so far. I will say I love living in New England but the short summers definitely make me sad. I do appreciate everything snow has to offer but sometimes I ponder moving to a more southern state post graduation. The four seasons can stay but just have slightly longer summers. Speaking of graduation, I’m also starting to look at jobs! While I will be graduating next May, I am a planner and can’t resist starting to see what possibilities are available. My partner and I have started discussing places we would be willing to move to if I got any job offers and D.C. so far has been my top choice. It’s wild because I feel like I just moved to Boston to start the program and now my graduation is on the calendar! I know that it’s over 10 months away but it feels so close. Any other final year students feel the same? I will say pondering…
The Finish Line!
Posted May 15, 2022 by Ivy Noonan
Well first I would like to say, congratulations to everyone who is graduating! Also congrats to everyone else who is finishing the semester! You should be proud, graduate school is no joke so take the next week to celebrate yourselves! I know I definitely will be, and not just because it’s my birthday next week. I also wanted to bring everyone’s attention to the Panopticon Spring 2022 Art Show! Many students, staff, and faculty added their beautiful creations to this project, so please go show them some love. Does anyone have any fun plans for the summer? I’m excited to be working my two part time jobs and hopefully re-learning Spanish! It’s been a goal of mine to re-learn a language since Library Science is so customer service focused. I also want to work at a university, hopefully once I graduate, and I want to be more accessible to all students and visitors. On top of birthdays and finals, I’m also moving to Watertown at the beginning of June! I am unbelievably excited. I’ve loved…
Surprise Online School & (Not-So-Final) Farewell
Posted May 14, 2020 by Katie Carlson
If being a grad student in my final semester during COVID-19 showed me anything, it is that my friends and future librarian colleagues are amazing and ADAPTABLE. With life suddenly thrown online, I saw recorded modules, voiced-over power points, sing-a-long zoom meetings, virtual coffee dates, Animal Crossing birthday parties, YouTube story hours, interactive book club Moodle sites, WEDDINGS, and so much more! I’ve also witnessed so much patience that warms my heart! From what I’ve seen, everyone has been great about adapting their expectations and making accommodations! Now for the second part of this little post: I’m done! I’m a whole MASTER in the field of library and information science! These two years have absolutely flown by, but I wouldn’t do anything differently! To make at-home-graduation even more special, my girlfriend made diplomas, organized a photoshoot, and even conducted a ceremony for Adaliz and me! Grades are in, and as I write this, I have my Zoom-uation Virtual Graduation tomorrow! It might be a little unconventional, but we made it through! Signing off for now…but…
Wrapping Up Two and a Half Years
Posted May 2, 2019 by Megan Ondricek
Now it really is my last week of class and internship. I’ve watched my long list of school things to do slowly dwindle down to the final item: a paper for metadata due on Monday. Once that is turned in, I’ll be finished. No more homework, no more classes, no more trips to Massachusetts. It has been an action-packed semester that has ended with a bang: last week’s tote bag ceremony at which I was honored as the recipient of the Terry Plum Leadership award, our conference presentation at CLA on Monday, and a part-time job offer at Fairfield University! I find myself in the bewildering position of having achieved everything I set out to do (and more) and feeling a tad overwhelmed and not sure what to do next. My time at Simmons has wrapped up in a manner far more exceptional than I imagined and I feel breathless – as if looking around and thinking, “did I really just do that?” To be honest I also feel like I want to crawl into…
Graduation! (Almost)
Posted April 25, 2019 by Megan Ondricek
This Saturday is the last day of class up at SLIS West and traditionally the day we do our last-day lunch, class photo, and tote-bag ceremony honoring all the graduates. The last-day lunch and class photo is held on the steps of the picturesque Mount Holyoke library (weather permitting) in between classes, and then the final ceremony is held after the last class, about 4:30. It’s a low-key, intimate, and friendly affair to which friends and family are invited and where most everyone knows each other. Graduates have their name read, shake Eric Poulin’s hand, and receive the coveted and well-earned official Simmons tote-bag. There are no processionals, no caps and gowns, no certificates, no megaphones, and no fanfare. Some may think this sounds like an anti-climactic culmination of so many hours and weeks of hard work and financial sacrifices. But I think it’s perfect and so much in line with the character of our little program out at SLIS West that anything else would be ingenuine. SLIS West students are certainly welcome to travel…