2025 NEWS

MAR 2025

Participating in Seminole State's Campus READ-Aloud event, reading pages 160-184 of the Spring 2025 Campus READ book, The Midnight Library by author Matt Haig. Access the video recording of the section I read on the SSC Library YouTube channel beginning March 17.

MAR 2025

Traveling as a faculty chaperone with students from the Grindle Honors Institute at Seminole State to the Southern Regional Honors Council (SRHC) in Chattanooga, Tennessee, March 27-29.

MAR 2025

Presenting with a panel of academic librarian colleagues from Florida State College and University libraries on student engagement in the academic library at the Florida Library Association (FLA) pre-conference session on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.

This 3-hour panel discussion and break-out experiential learning session is a pre-conference event (Extra ticket required $40) event the day before the 2025 FLA Conference.

Academic Librarian Speakers:

Sarah Hammill, FIU

Jason Anfinsen, SSC

Nicole Sotak, SSC

Jasmine George, UCF

Jasmine Simmons, UF

Leah Plocharczyk, FAU

FEB 2025

Excellent professional development experience!

Attended the 17th Annual Academic Excellence Symposium @ Daytona State College and supported two librarian colleagues, Nicole Sotak and Elena Soltau (and Biology Professor Simone Nelson), who presented on emerging technologies in library instruction & a.i. in higher education, respectively. 

FEB 2025

Served in my 4th year as an official volunteer with the Foundation of Seminole State College for the school's annual Dream Gala fundraising event, where a whopping $630,000 was raised to supper student scholarships and faculty programs.

2025 Dream Gala Total Raised = $630,000
2024 Dream Gala Total Raised = $609,000
2023 Dream Gala Total Raised = $590,000
2022 Dream Gala Total Raised = $550,000

JAN 2025

Created a free, drop-in improv workshop series with faculty Theatre Professor Niki Salamon in the Seminole State College black box space - Le Petit Théâtre, where I teach college students the fundamentals of performing improvisational theater. Students focus on exploring and heightening scene work, developing characters, and practicing half-hour performances using the long-form improv format, the Harold, created in Chicago by Del Close.

JAN 2025

Selected to serve on the Raiders Lifelong Learning & Leadership (Raiders 3L) as a graduate of the Seminole State College Leadership Academy Class 15.

3L is a program designed specifically for Leadership Academy graduates to build upon their Leadership Academy experience and apply their leadership skills and abilities through leadership programming.

JAN 2025

Participated in the 2nd Annual "Back To School 5K" to benefit the Seminole State Men and Women's Cross Country teams.

JAN 2025

Lunchbrary is back this Spring with another exciting term of student engagement events, Wednesdays @ SLM Library.

Program collabs with two different stages - area one for departments across the college and area two is for student life organizations.

DEC 2024

CHAPTER PROPOSAL ACCEPTED

My chapter proposal, “Nightbrary: Fusing art, games, and music into a weekly student engagement experience inside the college library,” has been selected for inclusion in the upcoming book, Academic Libraries and the First Year Experience.

About the Book:

Academic Libraries and the First Year Experience aims to share how academic libraries can help positively impact the first-year experience of students. This edited book will highlight and showcase the work librarians are doing in the realm of outreach and programming within the first-year experience, focusing on collaborations and student success.

Edited By: 

Jillian Eslami, Texas A&M University and Heather Snapp, Florida Gulf Coast University

Publisher: 

Association of College Research Libraries [ ACRL ]

Publication anticipated fall 2026

MAY 2024

 The 2024 Nightbrary World Tour continued May 17 in Orlando, Florida, as Librarian Nicole Sotak, Library Director Morgan Tracy, and I presented on Lunchbrary x Nightbrary: New Methods for Student Engagement for 60+ academic & public library colleagues at the Florida Library Association (FLA) Annual Conference. Proud to represent Seminole State College of Florida and share our BRARY.

FEB 2024

Represented Seminole State at the 43rd Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience in SEATTLE and presented on the SSC College Libraries' student engagement program series -

Lunchbrary X Nightbrary: 

New Methods for Student Engagement

JAN 2024

Travelled to TALLAHASSEE with the Leadership Academy Class XV to tour the FL state’s capitol and supreme court, meet with lawmakers and legislators, and learn more about the legislative process.

FEB 2024

Volunteered for a third consecutive year with the Foundation for Seminole State College of Florida to raise over $600k for student scholarships and programs at Seminole State College at the 40th annual Dream Gala.

APR 2024

Completed Leadership Academy and am proud to be an alumnus of Class 15, along with two dozen college employees, of this yearlong leadership development program. Pictured with SSC President, Dr. Georgia Lorenz.

MAR 2024 

Taught LIS2004 Research Strategies for College Students at Seminole State College of Florida in the Spring "B" session in 2024.

SPRING 2024

Produced 138 Spring session student engagement programs at Seminole State College Libraries, including Lunchbrary and Nightbrary.

MAY 2024

Produced 11 weeks of Nightbrary this summer and co-creating events with students in the brand new - Brary Brunch - library club for different 2-hour spectaculars from 5 - 7 p.m. every Wednesday beginning May 15  @ SLM Library.