Jennifer's Journey: Jessica

Jessica and her husband, Brian in 2012

I was introduced to Jessica by our friend, Amy in 1997 (I shared a blog about Amy on January 16th). Jess would come visit Amy while we were in college together and then after we graduated Amy and Jess were roommates in an apartment in the cities. I visited them often. Soon Amy's friend, Jess became my friend too. We had such fun together. We were young single gals having adventures and loving the life God had given us. The three of us even went on a three week trip to Prince Edward Island, Canada one summer. Talk about adventures!!!
It's a good thing Jess enjoyed Canada because years later she returned to Canada to attend library school in London. Jess loves being a librarian at Northwestern College and she's good at it too! Later in this blog, Jess shares with us what she enjoys about her job.
Now that we are each married and living miles apart, Jessica, Amy, and I enjoy getting together at favorite restaurants like"Good Earth" or going to each other's homes for tea parties with our other girlfriends (Becca, Shawrene, and Carey). Jessica is especially talented at being a hostess. She often has a theme for the evening and she always serves delicious food! Her Scandinavian Christmas Party has become an annual favorite.
Having been single friends together for many years, it was so special to get to be involved in each other's weddings in 2008 and 2012. Jessica and Amy beautifully decorated the sanctuary for my wedding with only a few flowers and tulle. They also sang a lovely duet together of "He's Always Been Faithful" during the ceremony. Precious memories for me. When Jessica got married I pulled out my favorite puppet for the groom's dinner and gave a silly lip sync performance of a song by Doris Day (a favorite singer of both Jess and I). Then the day of the wedding I played my violin as Jessica, the beautiful bride, walked down the aisle.
Both being teachers, Jessica inspires me to share history and literature with my young scholars. Both being singers, Jessica inspires me to sing along with greats like Doris Day and Ella Fitzgerald. Both being Scandinavians, Jess inspires me to embrace my ancestry and explore my roots. Both being Christians, Jessica inspires me to read my Bible and trust in the Lord with a grateful heart. I'm grateful for Jess.

The amazing hostess!

The Lake of Shining Waters (on PEI)

Enjoy reading about Jessica as a librarian...

Why did you decide to become a librarian?
"I decided to become a librarian after exploring several career possibilities that seemed interesting to me. I enjoyed studying history and had enjoyed researching at the Minnesota History Center library as a history major in college, and even as a high school student for history classes and National History Day. I noticed that many jobs at the History Center library required advanced degrees in History as well as in Library Science. That is what first interested me in pursuing a master's degree, along with interviewing several librarians about what they enjoyed about their jobs. I moved to Canada to study Library and Information Science at the University of Western Ontario and I really enjoyed my studies, so I knew I had found a career field that I would enjoy."

What do you like about working with college kids?
"I enjoy working with college students of all ages and programs, as well as faculty. The favorite part of my job is teaching research skills to students, followed by helping students with their individual research needs at the reference desk. I teach students how to efficiently and effectively locate needed information, how to evaluate the information they find, and how to use information ethically. These are important "21st Century Skills" for the information age. The search strategies I teach can save students' precious time. It's rewarding when students tell me how research instruction has saved them time, or helped them discover new and exciting information about their chosen topic. Some students have returned to thank me for help that got them through a class or even helped them graduate."
"Other things I enjoy about my job are working on challenging research questions and learning new things each day as I assist students in finding information about subjects that interest them. I also enjoy developing the library's collection, both recommending new items and weeding out old ones."