One down, thirty six to go!

I've officially completed my first graduate course at SU (IST 601) and it feels great! The one credit, introductory course was titled Information and Information environments. It was a very strange feeling walking into that lecture hall on Saturday morning after 24 years away from college. I purposely told myself to not make the same mistakes that I did as an undergraduate at Boston University. So instead of sitting in the back row like I usually did in college, I sat closer to the front. (Baby steps, I know!)

There were two highlights from this weekend. The first was the group project and presentation we did on the Troy Public Library. My group really worked well together. In fact, I could not have wished for a better group. Mike, Penny, Mary and Carolyn all pitched in, worked hard, and the final result was an outstanding powerpoint and presentation. Professor Heckman gave us great feedback and praise. The second highlight was getting back my graded Reflective Essay. As I mentioned, I've been away from college for a long time and, while I've written a lot since then, I've not been required to write a graded essay. Professor Heckman's observations and comments were spot-on, and very helpful.

At the end of the day on Sunday, we were asked to answer the question, "What did you learn in IST 601?" And while most of my classmates listed quotes from discussions and faculty lectures ("Innovation is not invention." or "Organizational change is difficult, but not impossible.") my answers were a bit more personal and reflective. I learned this weekend that over the next two years I will be surrounded by some amazingly smart, talented, and friendly students, faculty and staff. I learned that graduate school professors are human, and like to laugh. And, most importantly, I learned that I can do this--I can handle the rigors of the iSchool and am confident in my ability to complete this graduate program. Going into this weekend I had a great deal of doubt and anxiety regarding this question. IST 601, the energetic faculty and my helpful, enthusiastic classmates (colleagues really) all helped me realize that getting this degree will not be impossible after all.