Congratulations, May 2020 Graduates!

(The length of this post is commensurate with the number of students graduating in the program this year. Hang in there - we did.)

This morning I posted final grades for my Interdisciplinary Studies majors, 11 of whom are actually graduating. There are a few Incomplete grades: corona virus stressors have been taking a toll on the troops, understandably so. But here we are, after wild efforts on everyone's part during the last month or so, having completed internships, followed through on additional projects, and reflected on and presented the products of the semester.

I have been amazed at the resilience, persistence, commitment of these students. Some of them moved several times during the last six weeks - from dorms to friends' houses, to their parents' or other family members' homes, each time packing up the car with their laptop and belongings. Or organizing a ride with someone else, driving into uncertainty, time after time. Google hangouts and Blackboard classrooms were interrupted by laughing and crying younger siblings, barking dogs, and a lot of dropped wifi connections. No library, no place to quickly check out a laptop if yours breaks, no printers, no face-to-face interactions with many of the people these students had come to count on and felt comfortable with. Geographic space affects head space. Everyone was stressed, and some checked out for a couple of weeks at a time. Not a good strategy in the final stretch before graduation, but understandable.

I remembered my own college graduation, also filled with existential uncertainty - much of what I would like to remember as a time of adventure and possibilities was a frightening descent into undocumented struggle. College (never very secure, but inspiring in many ways) graduated me with a good bit of skills, confidence, and credit hours, but very scant ideas of how to translate them into a future - and no immediate safety net. (There were additional complicating factors.)

For Coker's IS graduates, I try to do better: all of them are required to search for positions that match their set of skills and experiences; all of them have complete and accurately formatted resumes, all of them have sat for mock interviews with the Coker Career Center, all of them have composed at least one close-to-perfect cover letter for a position within their field and reach. Most of them participate in internships that should supply them with a sense of the field they are entering, to help then affirm or revise their career plans.

They summarized their semester work on 10-12 slides with a voice-over video (scripted), and I collected the videos on a website, where each of them has a separate page with links to their work. Here is what those presentations were about, and where these students are headed next:

Abby Baroody (BIO/SPA) gained experience during an internship with a family physician, to which she added interviews with two health care professionals and researched career paths and requirements. She will apply to graduate school to become a physicians assistant, reaffirming her original career goals.

Daisha Champagne (PSY/SOC) interned with a family counselor and followed up with learning more about children's mental and emotional disorders, as well as surveying the opportunities for social work careers in her home town. She will apply to positions related to families' and children's well-being.

Jenna Collins (BIO/CHE/COM/BA!) returned from her semester abroad in Spain (corona virus!); by the end of the fall semester she had completed a project that showcased a career in pharmaceutical sales in a video aimed towards a high school audience.

Asa Gaillard (BA/COM) completed an internship with Coker University's human resource office. He aims to become an entrepreneur. 

Hayley Kropp (BA/PE), who loved her internship with Hartsville's Department for Parks and Recreation, followed up by researching similar recreation offerings in Louisville, KY, where she is moving. She can offer them a ready-made plan for organizing a softball league.

Austin Lantz (CS/BA) prepared for a career in IT, starting with an internship with Coker's IT team, and following that with online coursework to acquire additional IT skills.

Kayla Lazo (PE/BA) started out with an athletics facilities-related internship that was not a good match, but, having been released from that commitment by the virus, saved her semester by immersing herself in detailed plans to expand her family's business!

Asante Rice (EDU/PSY) started off with an internship at Therapeutic Solutions in Hartsville; she followed that by exploring different careers in therapy with children, and children's therapeutic needs. She is hoping to attend graduate school and become a counselor for children.

Leslie Schleiger (DNC/THE) researched the creativity and interdisciplinarity of Isadora Duncan's work - using archives, interviews, images, and journal articles. She has an offer to join a dance company in New York she has worked with in the past.

Bailey Vereen (PSY/BIO) interned with a physical therapy office, an experience she really enjoyed and on which she built with career research - as a result of her experience, she changed her direction from occupational therapy to physical therapy and is getting ready to apply to graduate school.

Kayla Whitaker (THE/COM), who had hoped to direct her students in performing a musical at the Governor's School for Science and Math, had to revise her plans throughout the semester - she recently accepted a promotion to Residence Life Coordinator at GSSM and may be able to actually do the show next year.



This semester, career planning and preparation took on even more importance: our graduates emerge into a job market that is plagued by unemployment, and they will need more savvy and presentation skills to snag one of the jobs that are available. So that's where the focus went during the second half of the semester, when most internships closed down: learn about your career options, expand your practical knowledge, practice conveying your experience and skills during an interview that may well be conducted on zoom. I think most of them are, if not ready, significantly closer to ready than they were two months ago.

So, we wish them all the success in this uncertain, plagued world - they have shown that they can deliver under less-than-ideal circumstances.