I worked as a student assistant for the CSU Dominguez Hills Library from 2006-2009. It was during this period that I began to consider a career in the library field. However, I also wanted to be a professor in African American Studies. As a result, I pursued and received a MA in African American Studies from UCLA in 2012. Unfortunately, I was not admitted to any of the universities, I applied to for the doctoral programs in History and African American Studies. I ended up taking a five year break from school to embark on a career in the field of education as a tutor, after school program leader, behavior therapist, and a special education assistant. It was not until 2017 that I began to reconsider becoming a librarian. I knew that to become a librarian required me to pursue a graduate degree in Library and Information Science. I immediately applied to the MLIS program at SJSU and was admitted for the Fall 2017 semester. Four years later, I am happy to say that I will be receiving my MLIS from SJSU.
While earning my degree, my greatest supporters were:
My wife, mother, mother in law, and children have been my best cheerleaders, throughout my four years in SJSU's MLIS program. They offered encouraging words and prayers in my most difficult times in juggling work, school, and familial responsibilities. Without their support, I would not have completed this program.
While in the program, I met classmates from:
I have classmates from all over the United States. A few of the students I met virtually were from Canada and the United Kingdom.
What I liked best about online learning was:
I did not have to relocate from southern to northern California to attend classes at SJSU. I was able to continue working during the day and take the online courses and concentrate on my assignments at night.
What I enjoyed most about my experience at the SJSU School of Information was:
I enjoyed taking classes that focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Also the class I took on Globalization and Information was great because it gave me an opportunity to learn about librarianship in other countries. Furthermore, the hands on assignments I did for the courses in Information Retrieval Systems, Beginning Classification and Cataloging, and Vocabulary Design gave me insight on learning about how index terms and metadata is used to retrieve information from database systems.
I plan to use my degree to:
I am interested in pursuing a career in the library field as an archivist because I am passionate about history, especially African American history. Historical documents, photos, and other artifacts offers a great insight about events that took place in the past, and how it effects our present and future.
Now that I have completed the program, I'm most looking forward to:
I am looking forward to pursuing a career as an archivist.
