Time to Graduate!

I started this MLIS adventure the same semester as my Public History MA -- and as of December 2024, it is all done! At the last minute it was decided between the DH and myself that I would walk. I hadn't planned to, what with my mom having passed on in February 2023. She wouldn't be here to see it happen, and honestly, I felt like no one would really care about it -- how many degrees does this make for me now? Someone even had exclaimed "again?" when I told them I'd be graduating soon... Anyway, we rented a car at the last minute and Sean drove us out to the SJSU campus on my day off so I could purchase regalia and see the campus for the first time!

The MLIS program at SJSU is entirely online -- so there has been zero reason to drive all the way out to the campus until now -- but as you see, I made it!

I started this education phase of my life out really in Spring of 2013 -- after an Excel course at Merritt failed to make me employable (I'd been out of the workforce for almost decade) -- With encouragement from Sean, I signed up for a California history course. Living here, I skipped that whole 4th grade experience -- sugar cube missions --- and honestly, my time living in Downtown LA got me curious about the history of LA -- and of California in general. I started taking classes and just didn't stop! I got my Associates for transfer after three years (lots of maths requirements and a love of learning!) then my BA in history from CSU East Bay (Hayward), my MA in Public History two years later -- and now my MLIS!

Regalia wasn't the only thing I picked up while on campus -- I also got this giant Diploma frame to put my MLIS in once I have it in my greedy paws:
(photo by S. Rouse)