Christine So, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice Leadership MA candidate

As a Graduate Resident Assistant (RA), I had the opportunity to live on Beacon Street near the SMFA campus in Fenway. You can hear the bells ringing from the green line train right in front of us with the original Tatte Bakery and Cafe just a few steps away. These brownstones we get to live in have the unique history of seeing various types of first-year undergraduate BFA students in these old, yet very aesthetic buildings. The three buildings 1047, 1025, and 1023, each have such a unique character and all the residents that reside in it each get an unforgettable living experience in their first years as a student in Boston. Fun fact: 1023 used to be a Bed and Breakfast!

Prior to coming to Tufts, I had been a RA for two years. In my role, there are some key goals we have to hit. Those goals being connecting with our residents, building community, and supporting our residents to be academically and personally successful as a student at Tufts. A challenge I had found for our first year BFA students is that we live a bit farther from Medford campus, which I feel may take away from their first year experience. Hence, community building in our Beacon Street community has been very important. In total there are four RA’s who are in charge of roughly 80 residents. Programming is a very important part of this role so we can hold events that benefit our community. So far we’ve done self-care related programming, study sessions, and for the holidays we made hot cocoa and chai. For Halloween, we decorated our buildings and painted mini pumpkins while having too much candy. 

Many people around me ask why I continue to be an RA (outside of the benefits of housing being covered). I cannot deny the challenges that come with the role in moments of conflict, crisis, or living in the environment that is your job. However, I just love bridging people and communities together. Beacon poses a lot of challenges in comparison to when I was an RA at my undergraduate institution. Even in comparison to Medford campus, we have to change our thought process to serve our residents in a whole different way. Being a prior music major, I understand the challenges of an unconventional education process in comparison to other majors. The challenges are different, so as an RA staff we do our best to make sure the events we hold are meaningful. Being an RA has taught me countless skills that I have been able to hone in my three years of being in housing. And of course, I value all of the connections I have been able to create in my first semester at Tufts in the Beacon Street community. 

This year I am an Assistant Residential Life Coordinator (ARLC) in the Office of Residential Life and Learning (ORLL). I will help with individual neighborhoods within the Medford/Somerville campus, purchasing, and offering leadership development to our RA staff. Working in housing in an institutional setting for my fourth year is a rewarding experience and one I’ve gained many professional skills through. Working in housing has its challenges, but similar to being an RA, the connections you make are everlasting. 

Lida Ehteshami, School Psychology MA/ Ed.S. candidate and Matt Suslovic, administrative coordinator, Education department

As you know, it takes stumbles to grow into your shoes as a grad student. We’ll dive into a few common anxieties and hopes we see unfold in the first semester of grad school, from Lida’s experiences as a student in Tufts’ M.A./Ed.S. in School Psychology program and Matt’s eyes as a staff member. 

Lida (first-year in School Psychology): 

One of the first anxieties I felt was assuming that everyone already had it figured out. I thought I might need to be a superhuman with exceptional intelligence, unwavering focus, and boundless energy to succeed. It was easy to fall into the trap of thinking that everyone around me had it all together while I was struggling to balance my jobs, classes, and life. As I saw myself getting more and more overwhelmed, I reached out to fellow students who all related with the same feelings and helped me set realistic expectations for myself. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, and graduate school is a journey of growth and development for everyone. 

Given that I had just moved from another state and knew no one in Massachusetts, one of the biggest anxieties I faced was a sense of isolation. Between the academic workload, going to my practicum site, and working two jobs to support myself, I felt disconnected from the world outside. While I am still working on widening my social connections, I am very happy to have found a warm, welcoming, and fun group of friends in my cohort and have gone to a couple of events run by the Graduate Student Council. I’m sure to schedule time with a friend at least every other weekend, using that time to explore beautiful Boston and make this city feel like home. The support and camaraderie I find in my fellow graduate students is the most invaluable part of this journey so far. 

Along the same lines, I also feared having to sacrifice everything for graduate school given how busy my schedule was about to become. During my first few weeks of graduate school, I was entangled in the web of this myth. The stress it induced was suffocating, leading to burnout and a decline in my work quality. I am slowly realizing how self-care is not a luxury but a necessity. I am now beginning to prioritize activities that rejuvenate my spirit, such as cooking, spending time outdoors, and finding time to sketch. Engaging in these hobbies offered a welcome break, helping me strike a better balance and reignite my enthusiasm for learning, which, in the end, gave my academic performance a boost. 

Matt (administrative coordinator): 

The moments I see the student-teacher dichotomy fall away and transform into a colleague-mentor relationship are the ones I wish I could preserve to show to grad students when they’re having one of those “ohhh, what did I sign myself up for?” reactions to the first semester. It’s a great thing as a staff person to watch the ease and familiarity increase between student and teacher over a semester. I see it happen often in the spill-over moments of teacher-student interactions (i.e. serendipitous conversations in the kitchen waiting in line for the microwave, the post-class meandering exodus of humans through the hallways, etc.). It comes up all the time in my conversations with faculty how they’re still lingering on a learning they took away from what was shared in class or are excited to share a story of something that happened to them in the field and get their students’ takes. I believe we’re all stumbling towards learning and figuring out the questions that need asking – faculty, students, staff, and administrators alike. I know that soothes my anxiety as each new semester unfolds.  

Natasha Keces, Child Study and Human Development PhD candidate and Graduate Student Council President

By now we are nearing the end of the Fall semester, making it halfway through another (hopefully not horribly treacherous) academic year at Tufts. Whether this is your first semester at Tufts, you are deep into your program, or you are thinking about Tufts as a potential school, I think that it is important to celebrate where you are and how you got here and to take some time for yourself. 

When celebrating your hard work and considering your future at Tufts, you may also be looking for a like minded community to lift you up and offer more support. Although you, without a doubt, deserve to be here and have so much to offer not only the university but also your peers, understanding your place within the graduate student body can be a struggle. Departments, specific research teams, or learning environments are often physically or socially siloed within their respective spaces so connection with other people may not be immediate or seem natural. This can be hard (I know it was a transition for me!) but luckily support systems have been created by the university and other students.  

In what probably won’t come as a surprise to you as a reader that I am very passionate about understanding and supporting graduate student life. This year I am the president of the Graduate Student Council, a wonderful team of elected graduate student representatives that have the sole mission of understanding the needs of the current graduate students and creating targeted support. Support can look like truly anything – including but not limited to decreasing the barrier to having a headshot by offering free photoshoots every semester, giving the opportunity for social connection and engagement with fun social events like bar nights, bowling, and pumpkin carving, fostering academic rigor and bolstering your CV with thesis and research competitions within the university, and creating the opportunity to give back to the broader Somerville community through community services events. In all of these spaces, you will meet people from all departments with all types of interests, experiences, and knowledge and get to know people you may have never interacted with otherwise. At the end of the day, we have all been thrown together in a similar environment at Tufts, gaining a unique shared experience as a member of the Tufts graduate student body that we can collectively grow from. 

You can learn about all the events run by the Graduate Student Council and what we do on our social media (Instagram @tufts_ase_gsc, Facebook at Tufts ASE Graduate Student Council), monthly newsletter, Slack Channel, and website (https://sites.tufts.edu/asegsc/). More than focusing only on what we currently do, I consider our role as constantly thinking of ways to consider how we can adapt in the future to support graduate students in new ways. I always encourage emails to gsc-president@tufts.edu to give me and the other GSC members more insight into your lives and how we can support you! 

I also think in order to do your best work, to allow you to continue growing more in your time in your Tufts grad program, and to ease any other concerns that may be hindering your progress in your program, it can be important to know more about other resources that Tufts can offer graduate students. Here are just a few of my favorites: 

The team at Tufts Student Support (https://students.tufts.edu/student-support) has been created to meet individual student needs and to direct you to other places that can help you flourish at Tufts. You can schedule individual appointments with them to talk about where you are at and how you can continue to succeed! 

You may also be feeling the weight of financial burdens as they impact your ability to purchase food that sustains you to do your work. Various resources have been compiled and are available here (https://students.tufts.edu/dean-students-office/help-support/food-resources) in order to speak to food insecurity both on Tufts campus and in the larger community.  

The university provides free graduate writing support and academic success coaching (https://students.tufts.edu/staar-center/academic-support/graduate-student-resources) – you can book up to weekly appointments during your time here. 

If attending a social event held by the graduate student council feels too big and overwhelming, specific identity based centers (https://students.tufts.edu/division-student-diversity-and-inclusion-dsdi) offer opportunities for connection with individuals of similar identity groups through fun events and physical Medford campus spaces. 

At the end of the day, you have made it so far and will only continue to grow in your time at Tufts (maybe even with the support of the Graduate Student Council or other Tufts resources!).