Firsts and Lasts

Tonight I had an end of semester gathering at our house for my first group of graduate advisees. Hence, the title of this post-"first" advisees, "last" meaning end of the semester. This year I took over the role of graduate director for our department. It has been a challenging learning curve, but I really enjoy it. Definitely a leadership opportunity I didn't expect to have this early in my career, but I like it a lot. I also happen to have these students in the reading interventions course right now.

My students wanted tacos....because what says the holidays like tacos, right?! Right....

Anyway, great fun was had. We played White Elephant. One of my students got a Justin Beiber ornament and another an opened package of diapers. This is kind of a blurry picture, but this is Katie opening the Bieber ornament. Fun times.

One of my other students Kelsey had the greatest holiday skirt on. She reminds me so much of Phoebe from "Friends", which is probably one of the reasons why I like her so much.

Here's a closer picture. She got it at a thrift store in Harrisonburg. I love getting to know each one of my students individual personalities. This particular group is long on personality!

A couple of students couldn't come, including my fabulous graduate assistant Julie. But here we are sans two who couldn't make it. These guys are everything grad students should be-responsible, smart, self-motivated, inquisitive, and independent in their learning. I love working with graduate students. Can't wait to see what this group will do!