Student Stories

Stories from and about library student employees and interns.
A group of library student employees wearing U-M Library t-shirts, smiling, and standing around the Shapiro Library sign.

Posts in Student Stories

Showing 1 - 10 of 111 items
Pin-back buttons with the top button saying "Ask me about my pronouns."
  • Cecilia Valentina Ledezma Herrera
  • Amira Said
Student Library Ambassadors celebrated International Pronouns Day by making and giving away pronoun pins.
Two students folding origami at a table in the Hatcher Gallery.
  • Grace Tai
  • Alyssa Simone Wakefield
Library ambassadors recap their Halloween at Hatcher event, which included snacks, crafts, and a Haunted Hatcher tour.
Students writing on postcards at a table outside (with trees in the background).
  • Grace Tai
  • Leah Juliette Gouin
Students ate snacks, grabbed some swag, and sent postcards to friends and family — thanks to student Library Ambassadors.
Image with the title and basic information for this Michigan Library Scholars project
  • SJ Shin
Reflections by Michigan Library Scholars intern SJ Shin on their work on the "Borderless Seed Stories" 2024 MLS project.
A cut-out image of a wheat kernel, with three portions labeled as the endosperm (the source of durum flour), the bran (used in millfeed), and the wheat germ (the "heart of the wheat").
  • Julian Lee Creutz
Julian Creutz's contributions to his Michigan Library Scholars internship, called "Borderless Seed Stories," are outlined, along with what he learned through the project and his thoughts on its impact.
Slide from final presentation displaying the title of the blog post: "enhancing library diversity and accessibility for international students"
  • Paige Bost
As a Michigan Library Scholars intern, I worked on a project about how international students experience the libraries, and what needs international students share and don’t share with American students. The aims of this project are to yield concrete findings to specific research questions and produce recommendations for the U-M Library so we can learn how to more effectively serve international students and make the libraries more inclusive, accessible, and useful spaces for all.
  • Mai Tran
The international undergraduate student population at U-M makes up around 17% of our undergraduate community. To uncover their unique perspectives, U-M library conducted the first campus-wide survey in 2023. As a Michigan Library Scholar and an international student myself, I gained valuable skills and insights into my peers' experiences with the U-M library system, revealing some remarkable findings.
"Political" buttons in the style of Labadie Collection buttons have been prepared as a promotional material for the series, reading: "REGISTER. VOTE. Cinematic Democracy 2024"; "ELECTION REFORM NOW!"; "Question Authority"
  • Paulina Nicole Witt
An upcoming film screening series (fall of 2024) will explore democracies, protest, and voting around the globe. Three films from the United States, China, and Korea, will spotlight various movements and issues affecting voters over the last fifty years. This project is part of the Michigan Library Scholars library internship.
images of creators of Happy Birthday Stefan
  • Solomon Satya Trice
Happy Birthday Stefan is an Pinteresque comedy short film following Stefan, an early 20s pre-med student. After a long day, Stefan comes home to find his family and friends have thrown a surprise party for him. The only problem is it’s not his birthday, and he’s never met any of these people in his life.
This work, while standing alone as solely a chaotically psychedelic milieu, further serves as a repurposed trenchant political allegory on the current crisis of democratic backsliding and populist rhetoric in the United States.
Happy Birthday Stefan allows viewers to contemplate the danger of U.S democracy being overturned, and who dictates whether or not this happens. In the age of the “uninformed voter,” and amidst the political regression sweeping the nation, exemplified from insurrection to reproductive rights restriction to rampant civilian onslaught, this message has never been more relevant.
Miles Hionis, Maddie Vassalo, and Rory Hunt
  • Rory Nicholas Hunt
Iphis and Ianthe is a short film that places the Greek myth of the same name in a more contemporary framework.

The original myth of Iphis and Ianthe tells the story of an impoverished couple in ancient Crete who is forced to give up their daughter due to their inability to afford her future dowry price. However, on the evening before the delivery of her daughter, Telethusa prays to the goddess Isis for a solution. Isis gives her word that she will have a daughter but the next day, Telethusa gives birth to a daughter. She hides her child’s gender to her husband and raises the baby as a boy, naming him Iphis. Iphis grows up unaware of his differences from his male friends. One day, he meets a young woman named Ianthe and they instantly fall in love. Iphis quickly asks for her hand in marriage but fears her discovery of his female sex. He begs Isis to make him a biological man and she grants his wish, fulfilling her promise to Telethusa 18 years prior.

Our film updates this story, questioning the idea that all transgender individuals seek surgery to alleviate their dysphoria. Instead, we discuss Iphis’s process of learning how to accept his body and becoming comfortable sharing himself with another human being.