Student Posts

“The only thing that you absolutely have to know, is the location of the library.”

– Albert Einstein

Music Teacher Turned to the “Light Side”

My career has been a strange adventure, and if you would have told me that I would be working as a library media specialist at some point in my life I would have probably not even know what that was. Alas, here I am, enjoying this new journey I am on.

I live in Mandan North Dakota, and have been born in raised in the state. I studied Instrumental Music Education at Dickinson State University, on the western edge of North Dakota and taught music in public school and in juvenile corrections for 14 years. My experiences working with juveniles in corrections were unique and wonderful and taught me to think outside the box and really think about how music and other subject areas are really tied together. My students and I created some great work together. Check out one of our original songs. Though I no longer teach music, I still enjoy creating, performing and writing music. My 12 year old daughter and I also published a fantasy novel a year ago called “Book of Quilia”, which we started writing together when she was 7. We enjoy writing together and are working on a sequel!

I am currently a Library Media Specialist for the largest school district in the state of North Dakota at one of the largest schools called Solheim Elementary School. I teach grades K-5, and am very grateful to work in a district that has 1-1 devices. I am looking forward to gaining new skills and ideas of how I can use digital media to improve experiences and learning for my students and for myself. I look forward to learning from everyone in the class!

“We have all a better guide in ourselves, if we would attend to it, than any other person can be.”

Mansfield Park, Jane Austen

Hello all! My name is Michaela and I am from the Bay Area in sunny California. I am in my second semester at FSU pursuing my MS in Information Science. My hope is to become either an academic or school librarian. I am currently an instructional aide in a special day elementary classroom as well as a library aide at a public library.

Almost every morning before going to work I swing by the Dutch Bros two minutes away to get my needed coffee. My go to order is a double chocolate iced mocha. I am almost always listening to an audiobook when I get a chance, and one of my goals for 2024 is to read 80 books (I have finished 6 so far)! Over the winter break I went to different California counties with my friends to get library cards to add to my Libby account. This is how I can afford listening to so many audiobooks. One of my favorite authors is Jane Austen and I love listening to the podcast Pod and Prejudice.

I live with my family, which includes three cats: Ranger, Henry and Benedict. I also have three younger brothers (Grant, Jack and Ethan), two that I live with and one that lives in Oregon. When I am with my brothers I like to watch movies, go on walks downtown and take trips to Disneyland whenever we can. I will force my brothers to listen to Taylor Swift, London Grammar or other music on my various playlists when we are driving around.

I also love to travel. My most exciting adventure is when I almost got stuck in London during March 2020 with my childhood friend. We made it back to California just in time for the lockdown. My favorite form of travel is going on Disney cruises. I love being able to curl up with a good book and watch the ocean pass by, and also win Disney trivia.

I am so excited for this semester and this class. I am interested to learn on how to incorporate digital media into the field of library science. I am excited to be creative with the different digital project and improve my skills.

Greetings from Orlando aka the House of Mouse!

My name is Linnea and I’ve lived in Orlando for 8 years now – which is the longest I’ve ever lived anywhere! As an Army brat I’ve lived a bit all over which definitely sparked my wanderlust from a young age. Even now, I’m always looking for the next travel destination and adventure which this year means a trip to Japan!

I’ve always wanted to visit Japan in part because I’m a HUGE nerd – comic books, anime, sci-fi/fantasy, KDramas – you name it and I’ve probably read/watch/consumed it to an alarming extent. I also collect action figures and other memorabilia so when I tell you I’m hyped to visit Akihabara in Tokyo you better believe it’s to find some exclusive anime merch. Right now you can catch me on Duolingo trying my best to learn some Japanese before my trip so I don’t embarrass myself too badly.

When I’m not geeking out over the latest MCU movie or sci-fi novel, I’m trying my hand at any number of hobbies including baking, biking, tie-dye, rock tumbling, drawing, painting, bead work, crocheting (which has thus far been an epic fail), and origami. In fact, during COVID I made 1000 paper cranes! I’m also an amateur foodie “influencer” on Instagram with a slight obsession for boba tea – if you’ve ever been to Orlando you know we have more boba shops than Starbucks! Orlando was also just voted best foodie city in America and I’m telling you, we more than deserve the title.

It’s probably not very surprising given my interests that my career has also focused on intellectual property. In fact that was my actual career – I was an intellectual property attorney advising clients on trademarks and copyright! And while I love IP (and will talk your ear off about IP), I didn’t necessarily love being a lawyer hence the decision to pursue my Master’s degree. As I explore what comes next for me, I’ve particularly enjoyed the creative courses offered by FSU – last semester I launched a whole social media campaign in LIS 5385 which was a great experience! I wanted to take that a step further and learn more about creating digital content and Digital Media seemed like the perfect fit. I’m excited to work on each of the labs this semester and am particularly looking forward to developing my video editing skills.

Hello everyone. This is Abdelrahman, and I go by Abdu. I’m originally from Egypt. I got my bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity from Indian River State College in 2018. I’m the IT specialist at Florida State University College of Medicine at Ft Pierce regional.

I love travelling and visiting new places. One of the best places I love to visit is Mexico. I visited Los Cabos in September last year, and I visited Cancun in December. If you are planning to visit Cancun anytime, you have to visit one of the famous Cenotes on your list. I personally loved Cenotes Cristalino.

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I grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, spent 4 years of undergrad in Philadelphia, and now I’m living in Madison, WI. Why the big move, you might ask? It was for a job… that I realized a year and a half in wasn’t for me. So I started this MSI program concentrating on Web Design and I’m currently working for Udundi as a Web Developer Intern. I’m hoping this class will give me the foundation I need to create media for websites that I’ll be designing or developing in the future.

More about my professional life lives on LinkedIn, so feel free to connect!

“Interesting things did seem to happen, but always to somebody else.”

― Diana Wynne Jones, Howl’s Moving Castle

Hello, nice to meet you.

My name is Dakotah Shelton and I spend most of my days buried in books, hermiting away in cafes, hunting through thrift stores, or spending quality time with my family. As the quote above alludes, it always seems like someone else has more excitement in their lives, yet a slow, cozy life is exactly what I aim for in my free time. As a friendly tip, if you haven’t yet read Howl’s Moving Castle I recommend finding a copy immediately. It reads like a warm cup of tea on a cold day.

I currently reside in Pyeongtaek, South Korea with my husband, son, and two dogs. My grasp of the Korean language is minimal, and although I can read the Hangul alphabet, I couldn’t tell you what the words mean- although not for a lack of trying!

One of my favorite parts about living in South Korea is the incredible cafe culture. I have spent more than my fair share of days drinking too many Americanos and snacking on face-sized croissants.

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While not currently working (for pay), this semester I am taking part in an internship program at the Library of Congress: Law Library. This program allows me to take part in a project editing and reviewing metadata found on Congress.gov.

Before starting my education at FSU, I attended Ball State University where I earned my undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising. Later, I went back to school at Kansas State University to earn my first master’s degree in elementary education. I went on to teach 4th and 5th grade for two years.

Currently, I am attending my last semester of the Masters of Science in Information program. The Digital Media: Concepts and Production course excites me due to the utilization of online platforms and tools. I am always looking to add more skills to my repertoire and find more collaboration techniques. The most recent digital format I’ve tried my hand at is Adobe Premiere, editing videos for the family vlog on Youtube that my husband and I are keeping. I think the piece of information I am most unfamiliar with/want to study in this course is copyright law.

Life is just a series of obstacles keeping me from reading my book.

My name is Annelise Leonard (she/they). I currently work as a high school teacher in the Ferguson-Florissant School District, which is located in St. Louis County, Missouri. I teach in a non-traditional school, so I have had one core group of students for the past three years. They are seniors now and graduate in the spring! This is a picture of us at the end of last year:

This year, I teach social studies and English, and my responsibilities have increased. I am chair of two committees/departments, am the building NEA representative, create the building course schedule, and am mentoring two new teachers. I also work as an adjunct professor in history at various community colleges and universities in the St. Louis area.

My undergraduate degree is in philosophy and gender studies. In philosophy, I am particularly interested in epistemology and phenomenology. My first master’s degree is in history. I am particularly interested in ethnic and national identities in 20th-century Africa. My second master’s degree is in secondary education. I am interested in student self-efficacy, particularly in low-income school districts. In information science, I am interested in the impact of information accessibility (and what that means) in low-income communities. I am in my second year of the MSI program and will graduate at the end of this semester. 

I like to read.

– Annelise Leonard

Last spring, I took the Digital Libraries course. That course inspired an interest in learning about digital technology with regard to information professions. I have since started learning SQL and Python. Through this course, I hope to learn how to design and produce different types of digital media programs, expanding on the knowledge I learned in Digital Libraries. I am also interested in learning how AI can be utilized to support digital media production.

Big changes are in store for me in 2024. I’ll tell you about that in a minute, but first, an introduction.

I’m Cristina. My family – myself, my fiance, and our two kids (ages 8 and 23) – currently live in St. Petersburg, Florida. I’ve been here for 30 years now, since moving from Chicago to attend Eckerd College.

After college, I worked in marketing and copywriting for years, until I found my way back to Eckerd to work in the library. In addition to Interlibrary Loan, I manage the social media for the library, specifically our Instagram page. 

My newest hobby is crocheting and I am OBSESSED. I made this hat and am working on an FSU-colors blanket. I am someone who often finds it difficult to sit still, and crocheting helps me to settle down and relax.

I am excited to be in this class and to finally learn how to use WordPress, my nemesis.

Now – back to my big news! My family (minus my daughter, who will live in my house in St. Pete) is moving from Florida to live on a 60-acre plot of farmland in Michigan. The land belongs to my aunt who, long story short, can’t take care of it anymore, so we’re going to move up there and make a homestead.

We will leave this summer, and I’ll still finish my degree online at FSU.

Mind you, I’ve never lived outside of a city, and I have no idea how to farm anything, but I have faith that we will figure things out as we go. Wish us luck and follow my personal Instagram to see what hilarity ensues!

If there’s one thing I hate writing about it’s myself.

Hi all! My name is Jackie Smith and I’m from a small town on the Jersey Shore and no it’s nothing like the tv show. However, we do have the best bagels, best pizza, best boardwalks, and the worst drivers.

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I’m currently residing in Tallahassee just north of FSU, where I am earning my MA in Public Interest Media and Communications and starting this semester I will be working towards earning a certificate in School Librarian Leadership.

I have my BA in Political Science with a minor in Women and Genders Studies as well as a certificate in Theater Management from Rutgers. If it’s not obvious I am completely undecided with what I want to do with the rest of my life and so right now I’m winging this grad school thing. I am currently interning with the Seminole Dinning’s marketing department to see if that’s an avenue I want to pursue. I am also heavily considering working as a School Librarian and potentially earning my MS in Information Studies here at FSU.

In terms of this class I am most looking forward to the digital story. I am hoping to improve my creative writing skills throughout the semester. Even though I have tons of artsy experience from photography and stage design I feel like my creative writing is lacking.

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Beyond my academic studies I am into live music, photography, gaming, and my dog Blu. My favorite band is Shinedown (featured above) who I’ve seen live six times since 2019! My current gaming obsession is Baldur’s Gate 3 aka The 2023 Game of the Year (sorry not sorry Spiderman fans). Last but not least, an honorable mention to my dog Blu Bell aka The Beast. She’s a pit mix and the light of my life, who unfortunately is back home with my parents in New Jersey.