Summer in the City

Hey Y'all,

I did a post a while back, hinting at some places I'd be visiting in the coming weeks. Well, I'm happy to say that I am back at home—safe and sound. I'm also ready to reveal my mystery destinations.

Destination number one may have been the easiest to figure out. It was Atlanta! I’m from a very small town in the Deep South so it was nice to be in the city again. I spent two days in Atlanta, my home town and the location of Emory University, attending the Communities in Schools Summer Training Institute. This is actually a special conference for educators but I was asked to attend because I received a scholarship from the Wal-mart Foundation and Communities in Schools National as a high school senior. The trip was very brief but it gave me a chance to relax in a nice hotel and do some networking before moving on to my next city.



The following day, I woke up at 9 AM and drove to the airport. From there I passed through security and boarded my plane to Washington, D.C. This particular trip was sponsored completely by the Gates Millennium Scholars Program and really gave me the opportunity to do more networking, do some career exploration (my future is undetermined, as of now), and rediscover the city that I hadn't seen in years. About 30 other scholars and I were given the opportunity to attend the American Library Association's Conference and Exhibition that went on over our 5-day stay.



The conference gives students of Library and Information Sciences and Library/Information Science professionals the chance to experience the latest and greatest developments in their fields, meet famous authors, and attend sessions that encourage library improvement and advocacy. Over 23,000 people were in attendance and it was just about as amazing as it sounds. Thousands of sessions went on throughout the week and I wanted to attend every single one of them but I could only go to a few. When I wasn't in sessions I was seeing the city with other scholars! In addition to the great learning experience, I made a lot of new friends, and came back with tons of free swag from some of the sponsors at the conference. I had a great time!




I'll be updating more throughout the summer!

‘Til Next Time,
Imani