intro

All About Me!

Hello new friends! My name is Lora Thaxton! I am from Wakulla, a small county south of Tallahassee. I am studying Information Sciences, which is really exciting for me because my mom graduated from this program (here at FSU) in 2008!

The coolest thing about me is my after-school hobbies! I am one of the 420 world-renowned Marching Chiefs. I play the mellophone (which is a marching French horn). I love being a Marching Chief, because of the friendships and fun we have. One of my favorite memories was getting to go to New Orleans, Louisiana with the band as a first-year member. This trip was exciting for all kinds of reasons: being in a college band for the first time, being in NOLA without my parents, and being surrounded by friends. The trip and location itself was incredibly special to me, because my dad (a second generation Marching Chief) asked my mom (a first generation Marching Chief) out on a date in the Super Dome where we would play LSU. The night after the game, my friends and I went on a crusade for ice cream (and spoons, which are harder to find than you might think) while the entire French Quarter was celebrating. We finished the night in our hotel room, sitting on the floor eating our ice cream and watching ESPN play our ending field goal block as one of their top ten plays.

When I am not representing the school in my Chiefs attire, I am usually found teaching. I graduated in Spring 2024 with my bachelor’s from FSU-Teach Mathematics. Right now, I am a sub for a 7^th grade reading class at my middle school in Wakulla. I love what I do, and I am so excited to begin teaching on my own one day, whether that be reading or math. I am getting this degree so I can one day pursue a librarian job at a middle school and become ALA accredited.

Honestly, when looking at this class, I was a little nervous. I have little to no experience in doing any sort of editing. I am excited to learn how to edit because it will allow me to better my own skills for when I teach and create lessons. Librarians, especially those who work in schools, have to have many talents that they can use to get people excited about books.

I cannot wait to meet all of you and get to know you within this class!  

Howdy y’all!

My name is Jovemyrdha Charles, but please, call me Jo! I am currently based in Miami, Florida, and when I’m not ranting into the ether about the insane rent hikes (seriously, $1850 for a studio with no W/D hookups? hard pass!) I’m counting pills at work and showing customers where to find MiraLAX or the E.L.F. makeup display. Honesty time: I’m actually from North Miami Beach, more specifically, Uleta, but no one knows where that is, so it’s just easier to say that I’m from Miami.

If you hadn’t guessed it, I currently work in a retail pharmacy, and if you think I look familiar, there’s a strong chance that you’ve been to a CVS and had a prescription filled by me. What does healthcare have to do with pursuing an MSI? Well, besides both being disappointments to my mother (she’s still upset that I didn’t go the nursing route or become a doctor), they’re both careers where my direct actions can improve the lives of those I interact with. Libraries have always been safe spaces for me, and I would love to provide that same experience for the kids who don’t have internet access at home or a stable home life that would make them eager to return home after school.

My experience with libraries started when I was just 12 years old and part of the media team in my middle school’s library. While my best friends ran the morning announcements, I was stamping books, pushing around book carts, and helping students find the next Holes (honesty time again: I meant Captain Underpants; for some reason, kids at my school loved that series). It was that experience that landed me my first internship at Florida International University when I was a junior in high school and my first library job at Miami Dade College. All of these experiences have shaped me into the person I am today and, as a result, have allowed me to “dip my toes” into the library world to decide if this is the career path for me. (Spoiler alert: IT SURE IS.).

Try as I might, I cannot beat the weird kid allegations since I not only participated in marching band during my high school years but also majored in anthropology for my undergraduate degree. My hobbies include singing (very off-key) along to musical soundtracks, throwing ingredients together to create something edible, and reading, duh!

My name is Delia and I have always run into the issue of my name pronunciation. As a quick lesson, the easiest way of pronouncing my name is by saying deli like a meat deli and then “uh.” So deli-uh.

I am currently a second-year student in the MSI program with barely any experience in the field. I was able to attend USF to gain a background in Anthropology and also have the opportunity to be an intern in the Special Collections. Currently, I still reside right by USF in Tampa, Florida, where you can see many other attractions like Busch Gardens or the Florida Aquarium.

Other than focusing on my work and studies, I love being a nurturer of my family, friends, and dependents through many different outlets. One of those outlets is baking for my family and friends, specifically bread. Any bread is a friend of mine, especially conchas!

Another outlet that I have been able to slowly grow is the dependents that I mentioned earlier. As you can guess from my mention of “growing,” those are my plants. I have slowly started to understand how to master my green thumb and have fifteen plants and counting! Some are flowering plants while others are my precious cacti and succulents.

Finally, another way that I have been channeling my nurturing side is through knitting for my family. Currently, I have a couple of projects for my aunts, that includes a couple of hats, a scarf, and a shawl for the current winter. It can provide an excuse to watch a show for the fifth time (*cough* Criminal Minds) or listen to your favorite podcast.

Although I am familiar with the digital world and its many ways to show media, I do not have any experience with the backend of it and I’m excited to learn about that from this class! I hope to learn from you all too!