This week, we present the first of our recordings from Reunion & Commencement 2014! In this clip, Jeanne Kramer-Smyth '90 recalls how her work-study jobs as a student, beginning with a mice lab, shaped her career.
"When you left that building, you smelled like mice. You reeked of mice. I would beeline for my dorm room, hope I never see anyone on the way, take every stitch of clothing off and put it in a sealed trash bag, and take a shower."
Nowadays, student jobs aren't assigned. As Jeanne notes, it was an important lesson to her that she was able to stick with a job she didn't want to do, and that even when she asked for a change, her sticking with it was appreciated. After working with mice, Jeanne was given a job in the computer center and the library - and ended up working as a software developer and then archivist in Library school.
Jeanne is an archivist at the World Bank Group archives, and covers the intersection of archives and technology on her blog. She has a written a short story for a sci-fi anthology, which seeks to increase the diversity and expand the universe of sci, and is currently raising money on Kickstarter. In addition to all of this, Jeanne has also taken on the challenge of a 50,000 novel in the formidable NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month).
The Wesleyan Storytelling Project is produced by Mia Lobel ’97 and production intern Tess Altman ’17.
