Let Camp Clover BEGIN!

So I've spent a large majority of my work time since May helping to plan a week long digital literacy camp. Now the week is here and it's GO TIME.

Gahhh. Anxious, per usual. You know, that feeling that you want everything to go well, that you've done everything in your control to get ready, and now you just have to wait. You can't imagine what the kids will be like or what they will like to do. That you will just have to do on the fly. So I'm sitting here in Peoria, running through the lesson plans, practicing how I might introduce myself, trying to anticipate every thing that could go right (or wrong). 

I should probably go read a book and go to bed...early. 

But I'm excited. This is something we've spent a lot of time on and it will be great to see how it all turns out. Follow me here for daily updates on the Community Explorers (8-12 year olds) and then over at the YALSA blog for daily teen camp reflections. Should be a digital literacy, blogging, and fun-filled week! 

Why I Chose GSLIS

The past four years I've spent my time explaining to hundreds of prospective students and their families why I chose Coe College. It's a story I love to tell and my experiences there continue to impact my daily life in Illinois. However, as time removes me from Coe and instead grounds me here at GSLIS (Graduate School of Library and Information Science), I figured a post was in order about why I am here. 

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Summer 2k15 -- Jobs Report

This summer has been one of my busiest summers to date! I always thought I was busy at Coe (my undergrad) with a job in Admissions and then helping a professor get ready for the first-years to come (aka readying the First-Year Experience program) but I guess that helped me be ready for a summer in Illinois..

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“Ms. Hailley, Ms. Hailley!” Summer at UNCC

I walked into the center last week to be greeted by this now 8th grader: 

“Hey stranger.”  

His greeting contained a hint of sarcasm with a hint of truth. I hadn’t been back to the Urbana Neighborhood Connections Center (UNCC) for a string of days since May. I had visited the center twice before the current visit but his greeting stung a little. I missed the center (and the kids) like crazy but have two other summer campus jobs right now. Sometimes I have a hard time keeping everything straight. 

So then why am I willingly at the center, ready to teach a series of weekly classes on Monday afternoons until the end of July? 

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