Tag: team awesome

Alum: Katie Peterson and Mariah Tennell

Today we get to know new and different tidbits about two of our continuing Graduate Assistants: Katie and Mariah. 

Katie Peterson 

Katie joins us from Naperville, Illinois, where she loves exploring the Prairie Path on her bike (https://ipp.org/trail-map/ ). With a little over one semester left in the program, she’s hoping to work as a cataloger in an academic library after graduation. 

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk? 
    • My favorite part of working at the Help Desk is being a part of the social media team and writing about everyone’s cute pets. 
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why? 
    • Mr. Ratburn from Arthur because he is a teacher, is funny, and has a lot of interesting passions

  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for? 
    • Publishing a book that people liked 
  • What part of the s’more are you? 
    • Marshmallow 
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it? 
    • Dragon named Cotton Candy 

 

Mariah Tennell 

Mariah joins us all the way from Gainesville, Florida, where she enjoys the beaches (and with winter coming, who isn’t dreaming about beaches right about now?). After graduation next spring, Mariah plans to become a metadata analyst.  

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk? 
    • Meeting new people and resolving tech issues. 
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why? 
    • Naruto Uzumaki because he never gives up

  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for? 
    • Baking 
  • What part of the s’more are you? 
    • Graham cracker – hold everything together 
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon, and what would you name it? 
    • Dragon named Brownie 

 

 

Alum: Sam Boyle and Jonas Yela

In today’s Thursday Two-fer, we discover more about the last two of our new graduate assistants: Sam Boyle and Jonas Yela.

Sam Boyle

Sam is from Lindenhurst, Illinois, and while that’s only 15 minutes away from Six Flags, her favorite thing about the area is not the amusement park, but her friends and family. <3 She’s in her first year in the LIS program and plans to pursue a career in either information technology or policy after graduation.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • My favorite part about working at the Help Desk is meeting so many people in the iSchool whether that be fellow GAs or staff/faculty or other students who come up to the desk. It’s nice to interact with people in person again!
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • SpongeBob – he would be a lot of fun, no boring with him
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Being Taylor Swift’s top listener on Spotify
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Marshmallow
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dinosaur named Gayle

Jonas Yela

Jonas grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His favorite thing about the city is the Lakefront—especially by the Milwaukee Art Museum and along the Bay View neighborhood. He’s in his first year at the iSchool, with various ideas about what direction he’ll head in after graduation. Archives/special collections? Academic Librarianship? PhD? So many great options!

Alum: Ashley & Hanna

Thursdays are like a gift that keeps on giving: the promise of tomorrow being Friday and, more impressively, the low-down intel directly from two more of our graduate assistants. Today we get to know more about Ashley and Hanna, both of whom are on Team Dragon.

Ashley Tschakert Foertmeyer

Ashley is from Delaware, Ohio (an actual place, not one state dressed up inside another state!). She loves the small downtown—great restaurants, one of the oldest movie theaters in the US (https://www.thestrandtheatre.net/history), and Ohio Wesleyan University (tiny, beautiful, historic). After graduation she’ll pursue a career in academic librarianship.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • My favorite part about working at the Help Desk is Course Support. I like chatting with the instructors before class begins and I love being able to catch snippets of many different courses.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • BoJack Horseman – he is a real person, introspective without realizing it, would be an interesting person to talk to
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Reading
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Graham cracker
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dragon named Frasier (her dog’s name is Niles)

 

Hanna Foster

Hanna comes to us from Texas—Dallas & Austin. Her favorite thing about the state is Tex-Mex. If choosing something favorite about a location, she loves the hill country around Austin (and lakes to swim in!). After graduation she plans to land in a public library either in Youth Services or Programming/Outreach.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • All of the friends I’ve made! I would have had a much harder time building a community here if it weren’t for my GA position here.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Scooby Gang so I could solve a mystery with them.
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Winner of the Great British Bake-Off (the rest of the team can attest to this!–Jen)
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Graham cracker
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dragon named Quiche

Alum: Isaac Wink and Matthew Monteith

Two-fer Thursday puts two GAs from opposite ends of Illinois in the spotlight. Meet Isaac and Matthew!

Isaac Wink

Isaac comes to use from Berwyn, a western suburb of Chicago, where they apparently like to trash talk about Naperville since he says that one of his favorite things about it is that it’s on the CTA’s Blue Line (thereby giving better bragging rights for being part of Chicago??? Don’t ask me, I’m from Champaign. Can’t wait to hear what our Napervillian GA has to say about this.—Jen). He’s in his first semester in the LIS program, with his sights set on working in either an academic or federal library after graduation.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • So many things! But I’ll narrow it down to two: 1) The people I get to work with, and 2) Having the inside scoop on the massive amount of resources available to us as iSchool students.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Pikachu because he’s cute, down for a good time, and adventurous.
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Sentator’s husband
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Graham cracker
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dragon named Spark

Matthew Monteith

Matthew joins us from Cobden in Southern Illinois, where he holds a love/hate relationship with the trees. They are majestic beings of great beauty, but they make things massively humid in the summer. Why trees, WHY???!!!!! Matt is in his first year at the iSchool and while he arrived here two months ago thinking that he’d flex archival skills after graduation, he’s now leaning toward a tech-related position.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • My favorite thing to do at the Help Desk so far is to help faculty and staff with their technical problems, as they present a great opportunity for both of us (me and the staff/student) to learn a great deal about how our systems here at UIUC work.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
    • Pork chops (seasoned with pepper, salt, chili powder, paprika), green peas, & yellow rice (seasoned with cumin turmeric, cardamom, and thyme)
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Professor Frink from The Simpsons, because he sounds like a good, educational time without being frightening
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Famous writer
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Chocolate
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dragon named Argus

Alum: Adam Hathaway and Claire Thomas

Good day, fine friends of the iSchool Help Desk! In Today’s Tuesday Two-fer, let’s get to know two more of the GAs who joined our team in August: Adam and Claire!

Adam Hathaway

Adam joins us from Scandia, Minnesota, where he takes advantage of the lakes—there’s so many to visit and swim in! (Adam, we all might need more info on your top picks.) Adam has time to figure out what he’s going to do after he graduates, and while he’s here he plans on taking advantage of as many opportunities as possible.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • Everyone at the Help Desk is just the best. The atmosphere is very cordial and helpful.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Stephen Universe because he is the most upbeat, outgoing, kindhearted person, maybe to the point of damaging himself, but he sounds like a lot of fun.
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Picking a fight with a high intellectual and having a good point but arguing it very poorly
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Graham cracker
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon, and what would you name it?
    • Dinosaur (they have feathers) named Greg

Claire Thomas

Claire is one of two GAs who comes to us from Vermont. Her favorite thing is timely—the fall foliage. When she graduates she plans to work either in a high school library or the children’s section of a public library.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • I like having the opportunity to generate our own project ideas and the problem-solving work of figuring out what projects would be most helpful and how to implement them.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Asami (Legend of Korra) because I hope to be as cool as she is one day
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Writing fantasy novels
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Chocolate
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon, and what would you name it?
    • Dinosaur named Steggy

 

Alum: The Emilys! Emily Doehring & Emily Fishkin

If you’ve been getting a lot of support from Emily and thinking, “Wow! She’s always working!” you’ll be relieved to learn that we have TWO Emilys on Team Awesome and they both work the normal number of hours. In Today’s Thursday Two-fer, we’re thrilled to share more about Emily D. and Emily F.

Emily Doehring

woman standing in the same pose as a panda statue

Emily D. is a townie, born and raised. She loves the diversity and opportunities within the community. Small-town feel, big city amenities without the big city price-tag. She’s in the second semester of her first year, which still leaves her plenty of time to figure out what she’ll do after she graduates.

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • The people, for sure, but the memes and the spinny chairs are a close second.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Gudetama is Japanese fried egg character who is lethargic and he just hangs out – he’s a mood. I’m lazy and I like to sleep a lot.
      cracked egg thinking "the future . . . I can't"
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • The American Tea Master & Source of all Tea Knowledge
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Marshmallow
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dragon named King Douglas the Third, May He Reign Forever

Emily Fishkin

photo of woman standing in front of a tree

Emily F. is from Evanston, Illinois where she loves the beaches and Buffalo Joes. She’s in her first year at the iSchool and after graduation she, in her own words, wants to “work with youth learners in innovative ways, like making interactive fiction, and straight up reading. I love library sciences for its breadth – really works for me and my renaissance-woman-ness.”

  • What is your favorite part about working at the Help Desk?
    • I love getting to know the professors and their course material, and I weirdly love to feed the printers every week. It’s my favorite task and I feel like they are my little pets.
  • What is your second favorite book?
  • Based upon your current cooking repertoire, if you were a professional chef, what would your signature dish be?
  • What would be the theme song of your life?
  • If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
    • Toph from Avatar the Last Airbender, because I want to learn to see with my feet.
  • If you were famous, what would you be famous for?
    • Probably not something I intended
  • What part of the s’more are you?
    • Burnt marshmallow
  • Would you rather have a pet dinosaur or a pet dragon,  and what would you name it?
    • Dragon named Chicken

 

Meet the Graduate Assistants: Fall 2021 Edition starting next week

Who-boy, we have a lot of graduate assistants right now! Sixteen fabulous students who are currently enrolled in the LIS program and who grace our help desks and our course support parlor (den? corral?) to bring you the best of the best in iSchool tech support.

While the entire iSchool is our family, the GAs are our closest relatives, and since we’re not allowed to show them our love with noogies or trapping them in a half-nelson, we will post super interesting facts about them instead!

Starting next week (two GAs at a time, twice a week) you’ll find out where they’re from, songs that play (in our minds only) when they make their entrance in the iSchool tech support stadium, what they’d each be famous for (if they weren’t already famous for their great support), and MORE!

We’ll have things wrapped up in time to rest, relax, and give thanks for these wonderful humans during fall break.

.

Things Former Help Desk GAs Said About Their Experience Turned into Motivational Posters

We’re hiring for Fall 2021! Curious but uncertain about supporting tech? Former iSchool Help Desk GAs wanted to share their experiences with you as you consider if the Help Desk is the assistantship for you! A little more information on this opportunity: this is a 50% appointment, and we are hiring for multiple positions. No tech support skill required–just a love to help others and an affinity for cute pets. A PDF containing the job description and a link to the application is attached below. Applications are now due on Monday, April 12th, 2021.  Application PDF

Former Help Desk graduate assistants share why YOU should apply to be on Team Awesome! 🙂

Two brightly colored markers on paper, keyboard, plant and coffee mug overlaid with quote from former Help Desker: "I was nervous about working at the Help Desk since I had absolutely no formal “tech support” experience. Thankfully, if you are pursuing your degree at the iSchool, you are probably already interested in solving problems and helping people. That’s basically the Help Desk in a nutshell!" glases on top of notebook next to laptop overlaid with text from former Help Desker: "Your searching skills will be unmatched and you’ll learn to be an effective communicator. Not to mention, the staff, faculty, and students you help are some of the kindest and coolest people around. Same goes for the supervisors and the coworkers. Go Team Awesome!" Opened books overlaid with quote from former Help Desker: "I mention my experiences at Team Awesome in every job interview I have and even have my first book contract thanks to this assistantship. I could go on and on, but it all sums up to BEST GRAD SCHOOL GIG EVER. THANK YOU TEAM AWESOME!" Laptop with someone typing overlaid with the quote from a former Help Desker: "Being on #teamawesome was one of my top 5 life choices! I made awesome friends (three of which came to my wedding years later), learned amazing troubleshooting skills that I use in every job I have and figured out what I liked best about librarianship (helping people and wearing funky hats)." Hands on laptop keyboard, a bouquet of flowers, a notebook, a cookie overlaid with quote from former Help Desker: "Being a part of Team Awesome made my experience as a grad student unforgettable! Hands-on experience, great teamwork, free food alert, making snowflakes and chanrios.. Team Awesome has them all! Apply and join our team!" Light Bokeh overlaid with quote from former Help Desker: "It is truly one of the best teams I have been a part of and one of the best environments I have worked in. Everyone is supportive, cares about your success, and is willing to help you when you need it, both for work things and anything going on in your own life. " Pink flowers with computer keyboard overlaid with quote from former Help Desker: "You will get to know the iSchool community and feel more connected to your school. I loved being able to help instructors across the school who I may not get to take classes with, as well as the staff of the iSchool who keep the school running. " Soft focus buildings at sunset with light bokeh overlaid with quote from former Help Desker: "Working at the Help Desk ended up being one the best parts of grad school for me, and I regret that I didn't apply sooner. Even though I started later, everyone immediately made me feel like I was part of the team and I quickly became friends with the other GAs. " Sunset over water with dock overlaid with quote from former Help Desker:"You will become close with other members of the team. Though I've graduated, I still regularly talk to my friends from the Help Desk. You will learn a lot of new things, but you will also have a lot of fun." Writing utensils, glasses, computer keyboard and coffee cup overlaid with quote from Former Help Desker: "I was worried about not having enough technical skills, but everything I needed to know I was able to learn on the job. I was worried about the skills I gained not transferring to libraries, but the reference, customer service, and troubleshooting skills you gain will help you in any library position. There is flexibility to pursue projects that are relevant to your own career goals." Pink flowers overlaid with quote from Former Help Desker: "Partly due to the pandemic and partly due to enjoying this assistantship, I decided to primarily apply to educational technology jobs. I'm currently working for ATLAS on campus doing Moodle support and I am certain that I would not have gotten this job without the skills I gained and the connections I made from this assistantship."

With any questions for current GAs feel free to reach out via Tech Chat and with questions for either the Help Desk Fulltimer staff or GAs you can reach us at our email: ischool-support@illinois.edu.

We look forward to meeting you!

Get Reacquainted with Team Awesome Alums–Bobbi (Battleson) Hardy

Bobbi (Battleson) Hardy is an August 2016 alum of the LIS program, and a Team Awesome alum from the mid aughts. Do we wish we had her here that whole time? Heckin’ yeah! Alas, life had other, wonderful plans for Bobbi. She’s currently living (and working) in Farmer City, Illinois. She’s remote working for Engineering IT at the University of Illinois as their Communications and Customer Relations Coordinator.
 
Anything going on in life right now that’s especially awesome, bearing in mind that simply surviving is really pretty damned awesome?
Preparing to enter a year-long internship for a Masters in Social Work – Advanced Clinical with Mental Health concentration and learning new knitting techniques. I’ve also found that axe throwing is my sport of choice.
What do you remember best about your time on Team Awesome? Any particular stories you want to share?
Building relationships with colleagues and staff and faculty was my favorite part. I do fondly remember helping folks from around the world, over the phone without screen sharing, navigate file management and web publishing for required class sites in 2005!
Do you find yourself using Help Desk/ITD/Team Awesome skills in your current life?
The customer service skills and experiences I had impact my daily work and how I treat other customer service workers, even MediaCom.
What was your favorite class or instructor when you were in school?
I enjoyed every class I took. I loved the 8-week course on Comics with Carol Tilley. It changed my perspective on information delivery. I must mention Intro to Network Information Systems – with Martin Wolske. I credit that class, and Team Awesome, with getting me started in my IT career! Other honorable mentions: Library Buildings, Storytelling, Readers Advisory, Information Modeling, IT Project Management, Global Context and Social Justice in Youth Literature
Any regrets about your time here?
I wish I had been more involved with some of the social groups. When I started, I lived in Urbana and was single. When I came back to finish my degree, I was married, commuting, and working full-time so my social availability was limited.
Cat or dog?
Cats, but I take every opportunity to meet new dog friends.
What’s your favorite meme?
Kermit the Frog, sipping tea – I can’t get enough of them.
Any recommendations for good TV shows?
West Wing is my all-time, ultimate favorite. More recently, Ted Lasso has been great. I just discovered the podcast ‘Fake Doctors, Real Friends’ so I’m re-watching Scrubs. I’m a sucker for any Masterpiece Theater show and Star Trek series. I also enjoyed Longmire this last year.
Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or one horse-sized duck?

One horse-sized duck! Once you got over the shock of the size, it’s just a matter of getting to a Subway and ordering bread, er, a sandwich for the duck! Problem solved. “Don’t bother ringing it up – it’s for a duck!” (RIP Mitch Hedberg)

Get Reacquainted with Team Awesome Alums–Katie Dunneback

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!