Start Fall Quarter Off On the Right Foot!

To all graduate students across the tri-campus University of Washington community, we extend a warm welcome and welcome back! There is a definite buzz in the air, as everyone plans for grad school experiences, tasks and projects that lie ahead or are already in progress. And while we know that there will be demands on your time — including many opportunities to cultivate your interpersonal, academic and professional growth — we hope the following tips help you make the most of your grad school experiences in the coming weeks and months.

Acknowledge imposter syndrome (but don’t stop there). If you’re feeling that you’re somehow not smart enough or don’t have what it takes to succeed in graduate school, you are not alone. Many grad students experience what’s called imposter syndrome — feelings and self-talk that makes us doubt our sense of belonging, our strengths and talents, and our capabilities. And we can experience imposter syndrome in different ways, based on our various identities and backgrounds. But you know what? These doubts are simply not true. You are good enough, and you do belong here. Approach being in grad school like it’s a marathon, not a sprint, with goals and milestones that you can achieve one step at a time. Check out these tips for coping with imposter syndrome.

Connect with community. Being a grad student can feel isolating at times, especially when you have so many demands on your schedule. Yet this feeling of isolation doesn’t have to be the norm. Whether you are new to the UW or returning to your campus, seek out opportunities to build intellectual and professional relationships with peers both within and outside your department. You are also a whole person — not just a student — so we encourage you to allow space in your schedule to foster relationships with community beyond the UW based on your social and cultural identities, hobbies, faith or spirituality, and values.

One opportunity to connect with peers is at the Graduate Student Resource Fair on Seattle campus, scheduled for Thursday, October 18 (3–6 p.m.) in the HUB Lyceum and organized by the Graduate and Professional Student Senate (GPSS). Save the date and attend this event to learn about campus resources available to you and network with peers from across disciplines! If you’re staying for the reception, bring your ID and Husky ID. This event is open to all UW graduate and professional students.

Build a mentoring team. Invest the time to seek out and build your mentor team who can advise, guide and cheer you on as you work towards your academic, professional and interpersonal goals. We recommend that you build yourself a mentor team, because while no one mentor can support you on all levels, a team can. As this UW Graduate School resource page states, “While mentors can be faculty members, they can be your peers, advanced graduate students; departmental staff; retired faculty; faculty from other departments, colleges or universities; and professionals outside the university.” Having a mentoring team can make the difference between surviving or thriving in grad school. Check out these UW guides on finding the best mentors for you.

Best wishes on a great start to fall quarter!

Sincerely,

Core Programs—Office of Graduate Student Affairs
The Graduate School

Lonely and Isolated in Grad School

I am a first year Ph.D. student and feel lonely all the time. There are several days when I go without any human contact except with students in my office hours. It’s strangely suffocating. I am still not part of any lab, so there are no labmates to hang out with. My classmates go to their labs straight after class so can’t hang out after class.

—Is This How It’s Supposed To Be

This post originally ran November 2016. It has been updated slightly.

This answer is courtesy of Jaye Sablan, assistant director, Core Programs, Office of Student Affairs in the the Graduate School.

First off, thank you so much for reaching out. I know how hard it can be in academia to share emotional vulnerability, and I totally hear you. Graduate school and its demands can create an atmosphere that feels isolating and alienating to graduate students. No, this is *not* how graduate school is supposed to be, or how it needs to be, though we hear you that this is how it *is.* Know that your feelings are totally normal, and many grad students have similar experiences. When I was in grad school, the cues that I was feeling disconnected were usually a combination of headaches, not being able to eat, inability to focus, and generally feeling alone on a campus with thousands of people around me. It also didn’t help that faculty, staff, and grad peers were busy in their own work that they (unintentionally) failed to notice I was struggling.

Here are a few things that helped me manage feeling isolated, and I’m wondering if they would be helpful to you:

What do I need right now at this moment to feel connected to my body? A stretch, deep breaths, a healthy snack, a glass of water.
Whom can I connect with to talk things through or feel vulnerable with (this one is a tough one, but you’ve already reached out to me ITHISTB)? Family members or friends via a visit, phone call or Skype, my department’s GPA, off- or on-campus counselors (reaching out to more than one person is better).
If I can’t connect with peers in my department yet, what organizations on campus can get me those face-to-face connections with other grads? GPSS and their events, grad student organizations, Center for Teaching and Learning (you mentioned being a TA, so that might be a place to start), Core Programs, etc.
What other interests do have I have outside of academia that I need to intentionally make room for in my schedule? Dancing, going to see live music, baking, visiting museums, town hall talks, getting to know the city that I moved to for grad school.

Again, ITHISTB, I am so very grateful that you reached out, and I hope this message resonates with you. Again, no, this is not how graduate school should be, and there are ways to decrease isolation — including connecting with others, which is so important and vital for all of us studying and working in academia. If you’d like, please let me know if you’d like a specific list of campus resources to connect with. Looking forward to hearing from you.

Ask Your Grad School Guide is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the Guide doesn’t know the answer, the Guide will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The Guide is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

When You’re Feeling Doubts About Graduate School

Feeling self-doubt about whether or not you belong in graduate school is actually a normal experience for many Master’s and doctoral Students. These doubts and anxieties can arise for any number of reasons. Below are just a few that we’ve heard about from your peers, and maybe they will resonate with you as well. Included are tips and strategies on how to move through these feelings.

Feeling like an imposter. Ever feel like you’re not intelligent enough to be in graduate school: like somehow your peers or department will “find out that you’re just not cut out” to be at the UW? Also known as imposter syndrome, these nagging, negative feelings and self-talk are actually quite common for most graduate students, and can make you question your talents, strengths, and resilience. Remember that you do belong in graduate school because you are passionate about your research project, enhancing your professional development, or wanting to make a positive contribution to your communities by earning a graduate degree.

Accessing resources. Your life is busy: balancing your degree requirements, a job or two, and family or community responsibilities is quite a task even when all those areas of your life are important to you. During the thick of it all, anxiety can creep up and make you feel like you aren’t capable of fulfilling your goals and commitments. It’s in those moments, that you can pause and ask yourself: Am I getting my needs met? Maybe there’s a campus or community resource you need to access to make sure you are getting what you need on an individual level, whether that be your campus recreation center, alone or quiet time with a good book or a walk, quality time with friends off campus, mental health support, or even a good meal.

Feeling exhausted. We know you’re all working hard as graduate students, and hard work can get the best of us. Given the rigors of graduate school, this can lead to feelings of exhaustion or possibly even burnout. Again, take pause. Can you ask for an extension on a project? Do you need to take an academic leave of absence? Even better, is there someone you can check in with to help you make a plan for getting much-needed rest, along with ways to move forward after your break? The length of your break is particular to you and your circumstances. Recognizing that you need some time away doesn’t mean you’re a failure, it means you are invested in your success as a whole person.

Remembering your purpose. It’s good to reflect back on why you decided to be a graduate student. Once you are in graduate school, your reasons may actually change over time, especially as you continue to explore how your degree may get you where you want to be in the future. Sometimes your interests and needs really do change, and the path you are on may no longer serve you. This is also a normal experience for many graduate students, and you can talk about it with people you trust on your mentoring team, with close friends, or you can schedule an appointment to talk with us at Core Programs. Talking it over with people you trust can help make sure that your judgment isn’t being clouded by any of the reasons we discussed above. And making an informed decision to take what you have learned thus far, and bringing it into your next phase of life, can be just what you need to do.

We hope you find these strategies useful and let us know what has worked for you!

Best Regards,

Core Programs Team
#UWGradSuccess

Making UW Your Own – #UWGradSuccess

Recently, two graduate students from Chemistry, Sarah Vorpahl and Nick Montoni, organized and led a day-long gathering focused on Strengthening STEM through Diversity. The meeting brought together leaders from UW student organizations, as well as faculty, staff, and community partners to collectively discuss issues of equity in STEM and to develop concrete strategies that will promote a climate of inclusivity for multiple underrepresented communities studying, researching, and working in STEM disciplines.

Core Programs attended and gathered several pearls of wisdom from the plenary speaker UW bioengineering faculty Wendy Thomas, and from the student leadership panel, with representatives from Women in Chemical Sciences, oSTEM, SACNAS, AISES, and the student union UAW 4121. We will be sharing highlights and insights, and working on larger institutional guidance, over the next several weeks as the ideas and opportunities identified at the event will contribute to a larger learning environment where all students can thrive at UW. Here is just a start:

Imposter syndrome. “Imposter syndrome” is familiar to many in Graduate School (and beyond): that feeling that you aren’t smart enough or that you might not have what it takes to succeed. Here’s the thing, you are not alone! Surrounded by smart people, many of us may feel we don’t fit in. Some advice has been to “fake it til you make it.” We agree and yet this should not be confused with “suck it up and deal.” That is, if there are things within your grad program or research group that seem odd to you – ask questions, talk to a peer or trusted colleague to check out your observations, seek allies to support you and who can also speak up and ask for changes. Asking for what you need to thrive is a big part of making your graduate experience your own and one in which you can shine. Shifting our academic culture and landscape to a place that encourages human connection and growth will take all of us–from interpersonal changes to institutional, structural level changes.

Develop a growth vs. fixed mindset. Fixed mindset is the belief that “some people just have what it takes,” while others will never have what it takes. It is the thinking that some individuals are automatically good at understanding concepts and theories in their discipline, writing, acquiring research funding, public speaking, and so forth. This is simply not true. Being a graduate student is about developing and honing your skills, knowledge-base, and competencies over time. It is a process. In this regard, we encourage you to shift towards a growth mindset. If you are experiencing a roadblock in graduate school, it is more than likely that a peer or faculty has experienced a similar challenge. If you are part of the 1-in-3 graduate students who are coping with issues related to mental health, utilize campus resources like the DRS. DRS staff can help you draft an accommodation plan that is personal, confidential, and can set you up for success. Graduate school is a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself and give yourself permission to grow.

Find a mentor. There are numerous reasons why you seek out mentors in graduate school. An advisor can give you research direction, but a mentor really invests in you. National guidelines are now pointing to building a mentor team for academic direction, career guidance, and personal support. Mentors can make the difference between surviving and thriving – seek them out and invest time to build your team. As keynote speaker Dr. Thomas shared, when she finally had a mentor who was equally excited to talk to her about her research results, as well her feelings about the research, she knew she could stay in academia.

We thank the student event organizers, student organizations, and the UW programs that signed on as co-sponsors, for their dedication and hard work in investing in making UW a better place for all of us! Keep it coming. #Together #DiversifySTEM #UWGradSuccess

Best Regards,

Kelly, Jaye, and Ziyan
Core Programs Team

Set Yourself Up for Success

Welcome new and returning UW graduate students at all three campuses! Whether you are beginning your very first quarter, in your second and final year of your program, or currently doing lab, thesis or dissertation work, Core Programs is here to support you by connecting you with tri-campus resources, professional development events, and wellness programming. As you begin the new quarter, here are some strategies that that can help set you up for success (your success):

You Belong Here. Some of you are the first in your families to earn a Bachelor’s degree, and now you are going even further by pursuing Master’s or Doctoral degrees. Some of you have moved hundreds, or even thousands, of miles away from your families and communities to attend graduate school. And while many of you are feeling excitement, anxiety, fear, or homesickness (totally normal by the way), the impact of these feelings are experienced unequally based on race, gender, sexuality, economic background, ability, and citizenship. A sense of belonging while you are in graduate school can greatly reduce both isolation and feeling like you will not be smart enough (aka imposter syndrome). We encourage you to reach out and connect with community, as this is vital to your success. Seek out peers, get curious. See below for a list of events and opportunities to connect.

Take It One Day at a Time. Think about what you need to thrive each day. For many of us, this can include time for exercise, enough sleep, time for connecting with a friend or family member, and time to get some work done. Take a look at your daily calendar and plan blocks of time where you can accomplish things from your priority lists and to-do lists, even while sustaining yourself. Graduate school is a marathon that can feel like a sprint sometimes. Keep the big picture in mind – why are you here, and where are you going next? You might have bigger projects you want to (or need to) accomplish. Break those down into manageable and realistic tasks and do just a little bit on the project each day. Before you know it, you’ve made progress.

Take Control of Your Schedule. This one may feel challenging to do when you have so many demands on your time – perhaps classes, research obligations, work responsibilities, family life, etc. And yet, your calendar is your own. Make note of the essential elements in each day and then look for the available spaces that might lie between other obligations. Even with a 15 or 30 minute time block, you can make progress on something that is important to you. Perhaps that is marking off one of the bite-sized tasks from your priority list (it can be energizing just to cross something off!), or stretching or going for a walk, or just resetting with some needed down time. Make sure you are getting what you need, even while you are being responsive to others’ needs. You can set boundaries on your time too. Give yourself 60-90 minutes of productive time and then reward yourself with a 30 minute break. When time feels out of our control, it can add to our feeling of being overwhelmed. Take it back – time is yours.

At Core Programs, we are right there with you – balancing many competing demands and needs and passions. We will keep sharing out resources and tips as we find them, and if you find things that really work for you, we want to hear about them too! Write us at cpinfo@uw.edu or post a photo on Instagram at #UWGradSuccess.

Best Regards,

Kelly, Jaye, and Ziyan
Core Programs Team

Additional Resources:

We Are Not Imposters, Inside Higher Ed
Back-to-School Beatitudes: 10 Academic Survival Tips, Crunk Feminist Collective
Working Smarter, Not Harder: Time Management for Graduate Students, North Carolina State University

Getting Unstuck, Moving Forward

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”
– Winston Churchill

We know what you’re thinking: why are you already giving me tips on how to move forward from feeling stuck so early in the quarter? Well, we thought we’d offer you some preventative tips to help you pull through, no matter where you’re at this quarter or what year you are in your degree program. Besides, everyone gets stuck in life, and graduate school is no exception by any means. There are several factors that can contribute to feeling stuck from getting our work done. We’ve put together a short list of these, including ways you can move forward. So let’s begin:

Relieving the pressure. Looming deadlines for school and work. Family, community, and financial responsibilities. Preparing for job searches, interviews, and possible relocations—near or far. Those pressures can make us feel overwhelmingly stuck. One way to relieve this weight is to re-focus your attention on what you need right now: Do you need to slow down and take a few deep breaths (repeat every few hours)? After that deep breath or two, and in a calmer state of mind, identify a single step you can take for one of your tasks that would help you feel you have accomplished something today. Each task is just made up of a whole series of steps. We have to start somewhere, and it often helps relieve the pressure to just take that one step.

Finding value in yourself (despite imperfections). We all struggle and have shortcomings. Indeed, in a job interview a common question is, “Tell me about your weaknesses!” Being honest about your own limitations – not critical, just descriptive – can sometimes give you the awareness you need to move ahead again. More often than not, we need a trusted conversation partner to help us see this perspective. Reach out for support from peers, departmental staff or advisors, loved ones, or campus resources (whomever you feel most comfortable with).

Facing the fear of failure. Academia can perpetuate the myth that we must be highly productive, all of the time. And if we’re not, we must be failures. Not only is this unrealistic and unattainable, this kind of culture obscures actual strategies for how to do our best work—and it can keep us from trying in the first place. So how can we best manage this? First, it’s helpful to think of failure in terms of progress over time—so you can grow into being that better professional, practitioner, or scholar. It’s a process, not an end result. You try, you learn, and you move forward—all the while validating and/or rewarding yourself each step of the way. No matter how big or small the milestone. It’s also vital that you build a support system of people who’ve got your back and will recognize your achievements along with you.

Remembering your purpose. Feeling stuck can make you forget why you are in graduate or professional school in the first place. It can also keep you in a false feedback loop that makes you believe that you are unsuccessful or unworthy of achievement. Whenever you feel this way, remember that you are working hard towards your degree for many amazing reasons and focus on those—whether it’s to making a contribution to a field of knowledge, impacting policy that improves lives, getting a job that you love and that helps you provide for your families. Remembering your end goals helps us focus on what really counts.

Warmly,

Jaye Sablan, Kelly Edwards, Ziyan Bai
Core Programs Team

Mental Health and Wellness

MH&W

Towards Sustaining a Culture of Mental Health and Wellness for Trainees in the Biosciences, written by Jessica W Tsai and Fanuel Muindi, discussed the importance of mental health of postdocs in benefiting the scientific community at large. Studies are limited, but we can see we clearly have work to do. According to one study, only 13% of postdocs are “flourishing” and we know that a postdoc position doesn’t lend itself to regular exercise, healthy diets, or good stress relieving practices. Lack of sleep and high levels of stress actually impede performance. Bottom line: our work will get better if we take care of ourselves!

As the figure above shows, there are many factors that contribute to well-being. Do your own self-assessment to see where you have areas of strength and where you may need to seek more support. If you are experiencing significant stress, anxiety, or depression, there are offices that can help. You may be eligible for accommodations – even on a temporary basis – and it can be worth discussing with the Disability Services Office.

The UW Mindfulness Project aims to increase holistic wellness, self-inquiry, grounded leadership and compassion within UW community and beyond. Check out their Facebook Page.

Health & Wellness provides support, advocacy, consultation and education to the UW campus community. Check out their website for more information.

For additional resources and suggestions on many dimensions of self-care, visit the UC Berkeley “Be Well” page.

Originally posted on March 24, 2016.

IsThisHowIt’sSupposedToBe?

(This week’s answer is courtesy of Jaye Sablan, Core Programs coordinator, Office of Student Affairs in the the Graduate School.)

First off, thank you so much for reaching out. I know how hard it can be in academia to share emotional vulnerability, and I totally hear you. Graduate school and its demands can create an atmosphere that feels isolating and alienating to graduate students. No, this is *not* how graduate school is supposed to be, or how it needs to be, though we hear you that this is how it *is.* Know that your feelings are totally normal, and many grads have similar experiences. When I was in grad school, the cues that I was feeling disconnected were usually a combination of headaches, not being able to eat, inability to focus, and generally feeling alone on a campus with thousands of people around me. It also didn’t help that faculty, staff, and grad peers were busy in their own work that they (unintentionally) failed to notice I was struggling.

Here are a few things that helped me manage feeling isolated, and I’m wondering if they would be helpful to you:

What do I need right now at this moment to feel connected to my body? A stretch, deep breaths, a healthy snack, a glass of water.
Whom can I connect with to talk things through or feel vulnerable with (this one is a tough one, but you’ve already reached out to me ITHISTB)? Family members or friends via a visit, phone call or skype, my department’s GPA, off- or on-campus counselors (reaching out to more than one person is better).
If I can’t connect with peers in my department yet, what organizations on campus can get me those face-to-face connections with other grads? GPSS and their events, grad student organizations, Center for Teaching and Learning (you mentioned being a TA, so that might be a place to start), Core Programs, etc.
What other interests do have I have outside of academia that I need to intentionally make room for in my schedule? Dancing, going to see live music, baking, visiting museums, town hall talks, getting to know the city that I moved to for grad school.

Ask the Grad School Guru is an advice column for all y’all graduate and professional students. Real questions from real students, answered by real people. If the guru doesn’t know the answer, the guru will seek out experts all across campus to address the issue. (Please note: The guru is not a medical doctor, therapist, lawyer or academic advisor, and all advice offered here is for informational purposes only.) Submit a question for the column →

Addressing Difference and Growing Your Support

Are any of these thoughts affecting you?

“I should understand that theory or concept already!”
“If I speak up to say I don’t understand something, I’ll look stupid in class.”
“I’m not participating the way everyone else is, so there must be something wrong with me.”
“Where is my community?”

Every graduate and professional student experiences doubt, anxiety or critical self-talk due to the demands of their educational programs. At the same time, there is no universal graduate student experience, and the long-held idea that you’ll automatically be successful if you just work hard enough is a myth. The reality is not everyone enters graduate school with the same access to social, cultural, professional and financial resources and not everyone is treated with equity. This is especially true if you are a first-generation graduate student, person of color, woman, person with visible or invisible disabilities, international student, or a member of the LGBT, Queer or Trans community (one can also embody multiple, intersecting identities and backgrounds).

Sometimes asking for help can feel like taking a risk—that it calls attention to your difference and to your vulnerability. It’s no wonder then that asking for support on campus can either feel truly unfamiliar or feel like a daunting task for many.

Core Programs’ mission is to promote an environment where all graduate and professional students can thrive and to suggest strategies that encourage students to seek out the support they need to reach their intellectual, professional and interpersonal goals. We also see our work as aligned with larger, institutional efforts to address the complexities of difference at the University of Washington.

Here are some tips to help you remind yourself that you belong here and that your work is important:

When you feel you don’t belong. Also known as imposter syndrome, it’s the persistent, internalized belief that “you’re not smart enough, competent enough, or productive enough” to be in graduate school, and that peers, faculty members, and your department chair are somehow going to find out. Notice when these thoughts come up and stop yourself. As communication studies scholar Dr. Felicia Harris states, “The nagging voice that says I don’t belong discredits everything I’ve done to get to a certain point. Pursuing an advanced degree is an admirable and challenging feat, and I remind myself of this by celebrating every milestone.” Milestones can be getting your reading done, mustering the nerve to ask a professor for their mentorship, or gaining teaching, research, or career experience. Read more from Dr. Harris.

Mentoring needs. There are numerous reasons why you seek out mentors in graduate and professional school. The obvious ones are to develop intellectual and professional relationships with faculty advisors whose research or career backgrounds resonate with you. Sometimes a single mentor can support you in multiple ways. Yet it also turns out that we often need a mentor network for different dimensions of our lives. Start with an inventory and see where your needs are being met and where you may have gaps. Some dimensions include:

Academic — Specific skills or techniques, new knowledge domains
Career — Sponsorship, exposure, coaching, protection, challenging
Psychosocial — Role modeling, acceptance and confirmation, counseling, friendship
Values — Worldviews, belief systems, politics

Grow your support. In our first fall quarter newsletter, we encouraged you to get to know the campus community by attending departmental and welcome events to make meaningful connections with peers, staff and faculty. Other ways to grow your support system are identifying those safe people you can confide in when things feel tough. These can be close friends, loved ones, members of your faith-based or spiritual community, and even a qualified mental health professional (there’s no shame in seeking counseling).

Jaye Sablan & Kelly Edwards
Core Programs, The Graduate School

Additional Resources

What Influences Your Mentoring Needs, UW Graduate School

It’s the Home Stretch!

It’s nearing the end of the fall quarter, and we’re thrilled that you continue to invest in your intellectual and professional development as current graduate students at the University of Washington.

You may have had these thoughts rolling through your mind about graduate school:

“Why did I do this to myself?”
“I’m not good enough.”
“I’m supposed to be on top of everything.”
“Will I seriously get through everything I need to before the end of the quarter?

These worries are totally normal, especially during your first year of graduate study. We also know that these anxieties impact graduate students differently depending on gender, race, class, ability, sexuality, nationality, and type of degree program. And they weigh heavy on your mind, in addition to the seminar papers you have to write, student papers that need grading, or lab work that needs to get done. You might even be studying for your generals, looking for a job, planning a family holiday, or dissertating.

Especially during these crunch times, it can help to remember your purpose—why are you here? Your core purpose, the contribution you want to make, the stability you want to provide your family, your passion and curiosity—these are the things that will get you through the tough times. You do belong here, and you can do it. You are in graduate school because you are already serving your community and want to deepen this, or because of a passion for creating innovative technologies, a desire to contribute to scholarship, a hope of getting a good job that matters and sustains you—the list goes on and on.

In addition to remembering your purpose and passion, here are some other tips to help encourage you as you finish out the quarter:

Surround yourself with people who can pull you out of a slump. Friends or peers (in and outside of academia) who can give you a reality check that graduate school is not the entirety of your life, even if it feels that way. Plan a potluck with them, hang out at a cafe, go see a movie.

Exercise. Even a short brisk walk helps calm the mind and gets the blood flowing. It also releases stress hormones that tend to build up during this busy time of the academic year.

Make a quick list of all your accomplishments so far. Attended first day of graduate school (check), taught your first quiz section as a TA (check), developing a specific skillset (check), others? Celebrate these accomplishments and reward yourself (time away from the computer, a date with a friend, a chocolate bar. etc.).

Create situations that help you feel motivated. Is there a quote you love? Tape it to your computer. A band whose music makes you feel like you can do anything? Listen to it before (or after) a big work session. An image of a place that inspires you to get things done? Put this up where you will see it several times a day (maybe by the coffee pot?).

What else keeps you going? Let us know and we will share your tips with others.

Core Programs in the Graduate School is here to root you on! You have made it this far (a big feat), and we commend you for working hard. Give it your best shot—and remember this is all a learning and growing process. You do not have to get it “perfect” right out of the gate (no one does!). You are nearly to that much-deserved break!

Thank you to Florence Sum, Masters student in the Evans School of Public Affairs, for these tips.