Today we go in-depth, no holds barred, super-duper-softball-questions with 2003 Team Awesome alum, Katie Dunneback. Katie is currently working at a federal library in DC—well, if we’re being literal, she’s doing work for a federal library in DC from a top-secret remote location (her parents’ home in Chicago!).

Anything going on in life right now that’s especially awesome, bearing in mind that simply surviving is really pretty damned awesome?

My “pandemic project” was to launch a YouTube channel and associated Instagram account focusing on planners and goal setting called Crafting Ruby Dreams. I’ve also been digging into Clifton Strengths, and learning a lot about myself as a person and as a fiction writer. I’m looking forward to getting back into writing fiction again in 2021.

What do you remember best about your time on Team Awesome? Any particular stories you want to share?

The camaraderie of the cohort I worked with, even though I was only there 10 hours a week since I split my GA time with #TeamAwesome and the Vet Med library (RIP). The two things I remember best about my time is frequently resetting Don Krummel’s 16mm film reels. There was one time I had to reorient one from being both backwards *AND* upside down, but I managed it! The other was dressing up for Halloween with the rest of #TeamAwesome and posing with Brynnen in the lobby between 126 and 131.

Do you find yourself using Team Awesome skills in your current life?

I’m often the tech support for my parents’ even though I’m halfway across the country. I also use a lot of the skills I learned in my personal life, like figuring out the setup I need for working from home or the YouTube channel. I don’t use the hard skills for the day job as I’d get in trouble (😁), but I do use the thought processes I developed for sorting out various system issues I encounter. But having the language of tech support helps me when dealing with my office’s tech support.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?

I loved the Networking class with Martin as I learned a lot of useful skills I’ve been able to use through the years. I also really enjoyed Cataloging I with Linda Bial as I’m constantly relying on what I learned in that class these days. Science Reference with Linda Smith was another favorite. But I think my absolute favorite was Adult Popular Literature since I led the petition campaign to bring it back!

Any regrets about your time here? (a class you wish you’d taken, a club you should have joined, etc.)

No real regrets from me. For classes, it helped that my mom was a practicing librarian and gave me a lot of direction on what classes to take. I also made a lot of great friendships through my time at Illinois, and routinely see friends at library conferences when I’m able to attend.

Cat or dog?

I’m a dog person, but I’m sans pets at the moment.

What’s your favorite meme?

Ohhhh!! Good question. I cannot pick just one.

Any recommendations for good TV shows?

DERRY GIRLS! I went to an all-girls Catholic high school in the early-90s (Chicago, not Ireland, though) and may have had a few flashbacks.

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

Hmmmm…duck-sized horses have the numbers, but a horse-sized duck has the bulk and they’re effing mean. I’ll go with duck-sized horses!

I’m super excited to share our first 2021 Team Awesome alum profile with you! Troy Babbs graduated in 2014 (which he asserts is the best year to have graduated), and he’s three credits shy of getting is CAS. He’s a local, living north of Champaign, and working as the Marketing Manager at a digital forensics/cybersecurity firm based out of Chicago and Miami. If this picture doesn’t convince you of how wonderful Troy is, keep reading. You’ll know how great he is by the end of his profile, hilariously written by him and left largely unedited by me because, well, I’ll let him tell the story in his own words . . .

Anything going on in life right now that’s especially awesome, bearing in mind that simply surviving is really pretty damned awesome right now?

Besides depression? I started as a part-time social media coordinator at my current job and now have full-time hours composing lots of blog posts, doing research, touching up Website design and selling myself/the company to maximize prospects and solve problems. EXCITING!! Plus, lots of side hustles such as the TV And A Movie podcast I do with my daughter in an effort to get more female voices in the podcast world…and an opportunity to swear at each other in public! (Set to release in January 2021 – please grade us on a curve).

What do you remember best about your days as a GA? Any funny/crazy stories you can share?

• We literally had the best Help Desk staff in the history of Help Desking (sorry to break this to everyone else but I’m pretty sure you’re awesome in your own way).
• There was the gentleman who was looking for light-up pens that the iSchool of old had. They had a sentimental attachment for him and I hunted down some castaway pens in the main office. After sending them to him, we looked up his Website and discovered an Angelfire-like, bells and whistles laden diatribe against left-wing politics. (oof)
• Back in the days of every class being personed by an ITD TA, there was a teacher running late for their first class of the semester. We were chatting in our Lync room and, as soon as the TA called the class off, I yelled down the hallway that he just logged on and the sound of screaming/laughing reverberated down the hallway!
• Becca McGuire and I CRUSHED our Web page/HTML seminar…use your search engine skills to dig that up!
• The last shift before a Winter break, Madison Sullivan and I had a ‘90’s boy band YouTube marathon all…day…long!
• And how could I forget my first week as a GA/TA when the building flooded and we had to go into action mode to save computers and salvage what we could? Plus we scored free donuts for it. What is better to a GA/TA than free food?!
• My ultimate legacy is what has been considered to be the best Moodle profile in the game. My daughter has pledged to have it displayed on the wall of the auditorium where we will have my funereal celebration. (My penultimate legacy is the smattering of “Take It To The Moodle” bumper stickers that are still scattered around the building.)

Do you find yourself using Team Awesome skills in your current life?

Research, research, research!! In addition to analyzing stats and optimizing SEO results, all in efforts to expand our reach…and maybe teach people a little thing or two about life along the way.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?

• I had Leigh Estabrook for my initial 502 course and that was a great introduction to the program.
• Always a fan of Karen Wickett and Dave Dubin (oh, those wondrous game nights!!).
• I tried to resist taking 562 – Metadata for the longest time but it turned out it was the most valuable class I took!
• My favorite class I DIDN’T take was Bobby Bothmann’s Cataloguing class. Being a TA definitely had its perks!

Any regrets such as a class you wish you had taken, a club you should have joined, an event you weren’t able to go to, etc.?

I was fortunate to take advantage of almost every opportunity available to me, be it Dublin Core, SLA and ALA conferences and being the Treasurer of the SLA board.

Favorite meme?

As a meme connoisseur I have the innate ability to gather and examine all memes.

• • Cat and woman pointing memes but ONLY when they relate to UX…don’t be a poser and post anything else. Keep this meme pure.
  • Wholesome memes are bae and never turn out to be just fam.
  • Twin Peaks memes are art. (James is, and always will be, cool.)
  • (Another shameless plug – I’m more of a Vine connoisseur and you can go to Facebook and follow the page I run with my bestie (whom I met through GSLIS), Troy & Hilly’s Daily Vinespirations, for PREMIUM Vine curation!)

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

Look I am literally a liker not a fighter but IF I was faced with such a quandary and couldn’t win them over with my effusive personality, I would have to face a horse-sized duck because one loaf of bread would keep them distracted until I could get a saddle and make them my go-to transportation.

Cat or dog or ???

Well I’m a library school graduate where they give you a cat with your diploma so what do you think? (Another shameless plug – go to Facebook and follow Li’l Hits The Best Cat In The Universe. This is scientifically proven.)

Sean Gordon

Sean graduated in 2015 and recently started work as an ontologist on a greenfield project that is expected to last 5-10 years. He negotiated for 60% work from anywhere and a solid 5 weeks of uninterrupted vacation to return to India and continue his yoga training. (Shout out from Sean to Dean Estabrook, her negotiation tactics, and the perspective that “salary is only part of the total compensation package.”)

What do you remember best about your days as a GA? Any funny/crazy stories you can share?

The strong community and connection of on campus staff faculty and students. Particularly of Team Awesome.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to share any stories until the statute of limitations runs out.

Do you find yourself using Team Awesome skills in your current life?

Professional teamwork, innovation with what you’ve got, and an ability to get people to express the real problem are all skills I learned from my time with Team Awesome and are part of my daily work.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?
That’s a hard choice. I really have to say that it wasn’t a class or a faculty member that really taught me the most about how to show up and get involved which is what it takes to succeed. I would not be where I am today without Jill Gengler.

Any regrets such as a class you wish you had taken, a club you should have joined, an event you weren’t able to go to, etc.?

No ragrets

Favorite meme?
You never forget your first: https://imgflip.com/i/3zlumb

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?
No. I’m a lover, not a fighter.

Cat or dog or ???

Dags.

Jen here! I snagged this pic of Fae off of Sean’s Facebook page. Fae is simply amazing and snagged a good human when she adopted Sean. Every day is an adventure. 😀

Juliana, class of 2009, is in the Philadelphia suburbs, working as an IT project manager for University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. 

Anything going on in life right now that’s especially awesome, bearing in mind that simply surviving is really pretty damned awesome right now?

I’m doing a huge project with a small, scrappy team that’s amazingly creative and supportive; we make space for each other to deal with tough life stuff and take time off. Working in this environment would be awful with unsupportive or unsympathetic colleagues, or consultants who’re just phoning it in– I’m so fortunate that work is a space where I can focus on problems I *can* solve and helping others do the same.

What do you remember best about your days as a GA? Any funny/crazy stories you can share?

One day there wasn’t much to do and Jeanne and I asked #mattbeth if we could explore the GSLIS attic over what was then the ITD office– there was a trap door and we were curious. He said yes, and we found a bunch of old storage media and other expected papers, but then we also found… the Jaeger hat! I don’t know if this is still floating around, but it had a spinner on it that said whose turn it was to buy the Jaeger, and all the GAs of the time posed with it. Jill, Matt, or Karla may still have photos.

Look what I found! –Jen:

Do you find yourself using Team Awesome skills in your current life?

Absolutely! The fun, empathetic approach to tech support has been vital in later support work, and it’s something I try to bring to my current leadership role. As a project manager I can help set a tone for a project, and I try to make it one that’s fun and that empowers users to gain knowledge of the system. For that matter, this approach is great for helping raise my nephews– toddlers can get frustrated easily and it’s good to remind them that we can have fun trying to figure out how to get a toy working or do other basic troubleshooting.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school? I had such a good time in Kate McDowell’s YA fantasy class– we had a great time discussing the literature, even if it’s not skills I use that often professionally. I definitely use the texts and readers’ advisory knowledge for friends and their children though!

Any regrets such as a class you wish you had taken, a club you should have joined, an event you weren’t able to go to, etc.?

I had time to do a lot and don’t have any big regrets. Though I really loved tabling with ALA for the undergrad sexual health info fair the one time someone organized that– people were so happy and surprised the library had resources about sexuality, and I’d love to have done more to make that kind of information more accessible.

Favorite meme?

This is a tough one! I think one of my all-time favorites is the “i lik the bred” cow poem meme.https://annleckie.tumblr.com/post/155862925211/my-name-is-cow-masterpost

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

Assuming the horses are not trained for battle, I think 100 duck sized horses would scare pretty easily. Ducks can be pretty aggressive!

Cat or dog or ???

I have a cat, pictured, since she’s a much better fit for someone who’s normally out a lot. I love dogs too and would definitely foster one right now if I didn’t have a cat who very much needs to be an only pet!

Stephanie graduated in 2015 and currently lives and works just outside of Seattle. She’s a Tableau consultant at a company called Decisive Data.

Anything going on in life right now that’s especially awesome, bearing in mind that simply surviving is really pretty damned awesome right now?

I’m pretty excited about my job! I started 6 months ago and am loving it. I get to help clients manage their data and then visualize it in Tableau. It’s been a really good fit with an LIS background despite not being very LIS-y.

What do you remember best about your days as a GA? Any funny/crazy stories you can share?

The 2014 Polar Vortex fiasco is probably the most memorable. #neverforget racing down to the basement and nabbing all the computers as water is raining from the ceiling. Making the April fool’s joke video was a blast. Other than that, the many, many hours I spent hanging out in the ITD office TA-ing LEEP classes and laughing way too much/too loudly and getting in trouble for it 😛 (I blame a former colleague. If you worked with the team, you can probably guess who I mean.)

Do you find yourself using Team Awesome skills in your current life?

Yes! I’ve ended up being the go-to “help me troubleshoot this thing while our IT person is busy” person at every job since being a GA. My dongle knowledge has come in handy a surprising number of times.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?

Probably Prof. Yoo-Seong Song’s classes. Taking his classes led me to the career I’m in now. Everyone at GSLIS (err…the iSchool) is great though, seriously. I loved all my profs.

Any regrets such as a class you wish you had taken, a club you should have joined, an event you weren’t able to go to, etc.?

I had really wanted to take Instruction with Melissa Wong and could never fit it in my schedule. Now my job is shifting to doing lots of training sessions and I’m kicking myself because it really would have come in handy! Maybe I’ll still take it someday.

Favorite meme?

The lady yelling + the cat one

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

I’m gonna go with 100 duck-sized horses. Have you been near a horse lately? They are big and ducks are mean.

Cat or dog or ???

Dog! I’m sadly quite allergic to cats.

In today’s walk down memory lane and find out what our Team alum, Kate Rojas, is up to.

Kate graduated in December 2014 (stayed until December 2015 to complete K-12 teaching license requirements) and is currently living in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and working as a school librarian in a public elementary school.

Anything going on in life right now that’s especially awesome, bearing in mind that simply surviving is really pretty damned awesome right now?

Everyone in my immediate family is well, and my colleagues from work also appear to be in good health, which is a blessing. I’ve also been meeting with some of my students in a virtual capacity, and it’s been great to connect with them since I haven’t seen them in person for almost two months now. I’ve also made some new friends from all over the world through an online gaming community, and it’s fascinating to talk with them about how we are all in the same quarantined situation.

What do you remember best about your days as a GA? Any funny/crazy stories you can share?

I remember everyone’s positivity, and I remember our GA group being obsessed with Emily Bayci’s crazy hat collection. We laughed a lot. I remember how kind everyone was at the iSchool, and I always had a great time figuring out how to best help other people with any and all technical problems.

Do you find yourself using Team Awesome skills in your current life?

YES! I am my school’s “technology coordinator,” which basically means that I am the first point-of-contact with any and all tech issues. Every day, I look forward to receiving phone calls and emails from staff.

Right now, I am actually working with our district’s team of librarians on creating a virtual district-wide Reading Olympics or “Battle of the Books” competition. This event is once a year, and student teams face off against one another to answer the most questions correctly about books they read. Unfortunately, the in-person competition was canceled due to COVID-19. However, my students read over 400 books this year, so I am piloting a way to still hold the competition but virtually using the Schoology platform and BigBlueButton conferencing. I don’t know if this has been done before, but my students and I are really excited about holding this competition.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?

I can’t pick just one class or instructor because I had a great experience overall. My K-12 coursework was amazing with instructors, like Betty Bush and Georgeann Burch. I liked taking apart computers in Martin Wolske’s course; that’s something that I would love to do with my students now. My practicums and student teaching experiences were also exceptional.

Any regrets such as a class you wish you had taken, a club you should have joined, an event you weren’t able to go to, etc.?

I don’t have any regrets. I felt as though I made the most of my experience when I lived in Champaign-Urbana. I tried many different things and learned a lot. If anything, it might have been cool to take more classes on topics such as comics/graphic novels, library buildings, and diversity/inclusion. Granted, these topics are of personal interest to me, so I tend to read a lot about them in my free time anyway.

Favorite meme?

I’m a bit obsessed with the meme linked here because it involves a cute cat, and I think it does convey a concept that we all can relate to from time-to-time right about now. Click here to see Kate’s meme.

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

I’d take on the one horse-sized duck because I’d be able to be strategic. I think I’d be able to make friends with the duck, and then I’d have a huge duck as a pet.

Cat or dog or ???

I don’t have any pets, but I think a white-haired blue-eyed cat would be cute.

Now that we’ve gotten to know the current members of Team Awesome, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and find out what our Team alums are up to.

Steven Smidl graduated in Spring 2013 and is currently in Chicago, working as a Media Center Director for Rich Central High School in Olympia Fields. But stop the press! He just received an offer to become the Chief School Business Official for Cooperative Association of Special Education DuPage. (!!!)

What do you remember best about your days as a GA? Any funny/crazy stories you can share?

I remember just having genuine conversations with Karla, Jill, and Matt. They were supervisors that were authentic and honest.  I loved having food conversations with the TA’s during our long nights for online classes especially with Kinyetta because she had some delicious takeout!

One story would be persuading one of the GAs to put KAM’s on a Bar Crawl and then having some people resist especially when it was in the middle of the crawl and not the last bar.  I found it to be humorous but it was a good time.

Do you find yourself using your Team Awesome skills in your current life?

As a librarian, I have consistently used my skills to work with teachers or students in troubleshooting technical issues or completing screencasts and webinars.

What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?

Even though I enjoyed a few classes, I think the one teacher that had the biggest impression on me since leaving was Dr. Robert Burger. His two administrative classes on Finance and Management were beneficial as a solo librarian and transitioning to become a School Business Official.

Any regrets such as a class you wish you had taken, a club you should have joined, an event you weren’t able to go to, etc.?

I have no regrets.

Favorite meme?

Either the Willy Wonka but the Lori Lightfoot has been gold!

Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

Bring on the herd!

Cat or dog or ???

None. I am not an animal person.