i’m a grad student. and i’m terrified.
i feel like i’m never gonna learn the graduate school mentality since i spent so long as a practitioner. i want all my writing to be evidence-based, but accessible -- i’m not interested in technical mumbo-jumbo. i want what i do to ultimately serve the people i’m trying to serve, who are undergraduate students, and the people they’ll reach in their careers. i love higher education for what it can be, but i’m not romanticized by where it is right now - a hierarchical power structure built on impressing those before you. no. not about it. i’m about serving the people beyond me and who will go beyond my institution -- the next generation. providing them with the foundations to build upon our messages in ways we can’t yet imagine, just like my mentors have continued to do for me. what does that mean for my future in higher ed? i don’t know, but i know i won’t find out by sticking to the status quo. i’m gonna stay true to my thing and see how i can level it up while keeping the foundation of it true to my pedagogy.