Looking Back at 2013
In 2011 if anyone had asked me a few years back where I saw myself in 2013, I would have quickly shrugged my shoulders and given them a look of uncertainty. Before I realized my interest and talents lay in librarianship and archival studies, I had no clear vision of what I wanted or where my life should go.

Fast forward two years, and I find myself as a newly hired Graduate Student Assistant with Wayne's School of Library & Information Science. The opportunity came as a surprise as I never envisioned myself engaged in any academic endeavor outside of the classroom. So the fact that I had been accepted as the new Diversity GSA was a bit surreal, 3 days passed before the brevity of my situation sank in.
After realizing that part of my responsibilities would include traveling to and presenting at conferences, school fairs, and other events… fear began to ease its way into my self-conscious. Traveling was easy, the idea of presenting or communicating with others ON A MASSIVE SCALE was what frightened me. I trembled at the thought of me, holding THE source of information that could make or break someone's decision to start our program and ultimately change their future. Well, I've overcome that hump, sort of!

Presentations still send chills up my spine; the difference is that with each presentation, my knowledge base and confidence levels increase. This leads me to believe that while I may never write speeches for the White House, I've developed enough eloquence, gall and know-how to get a solid point across.
I also had to overcome my insecurities and learn to trust myself enough to develop solid ideas and initiatives that would bring attention to the program and the field. I also had to focus on ways to increase diversity. For me that meant reaching out to other professionals and students for ideas, opinions and experiences; conducting research related to diversity issues within LIS; getting more involved with student organizations; blogging; assisting professors with projects surrounding diversity and so on.
My experience up to this point has been a whirlwind of positive challenges that have helped me to develop as an individual as well as a professional. Of all the academic and professional experiences I have had, my position as the DGSA has proven to be the most profound.

As we move into 2014, my intention is to continue reaching out to prospective students by hosting more information sessions and making myself and the program more visible on and around Wayne's campus. I also plan to delve more into research surrounding issues of diversity within librarianship. One of my major goals is to put more energy and time into establishing FLID (Future Librarians for Inclusivity and Diversity) as one of the premier student organizations on Wayne's campus. A tough task but not impossible, as I will be collaborating with the student chapter of ALA in bringing more attention to FLID (by increasing diversity in membership, hosting meetings, events and other functions that will bring more awareness to the field of LIS.)

It seems as if I have busy, challenging, and interesting year ahead of me, all of which I look forward to. In the end this will make my goal of leaving a positive mark on the university, the program, my peers and of course myself more possible.

Thank you all, for such a profound and enriching semester! Until next time…..