Graduation day!

As interns, we selected one of our own to speak at today's graduation ceremony. Her speech was hilarious and she's given me permission to repost it here:

When I started in the Copyright office, they handed me an apron, a mask, gloves and a huge bin of dirty boxes that had been sitting under a staircase somewhere, covered in coal dust, no less. That's when I knew I was going to have the summer of my life here at the Library of Congress, and I was correct. It has been an absolute joy to get to know all of you, learn from you and share this time together.

On behalf of the 2009 Junior Fellows, I’d like to extend a warm welcome to all of the distinguished library staff, friends and family present today. Thank you for joining us to celebrate an amazing summer here at the greatest place in the world. It is an honor to stand here as a graduation speaker and I can’t believe that our ten weeks have already gone by!

This internship provided us with a unique opportunity to live and work in DC, something that was a personal goal of mine. Other personal milestones I achieved this summer include finding a Dr Pepper ad from 1907, adding all of you as Facebook friends, drooling over Ainsworth Rand Spofford’s signature on copyright records, finding Mark Dimunation on Twitter and seeing the Jonas Brothers live. Sadly, I did not reach my goal of making Seth Silbiger fall in love with me, but I’m still working on it.

A wise man once said of Knowledge, “Butterfly in the sky, I can fly twice as high. Take a look, it’s in a book – a reading rainbow.” That man was correct, but I think we all know now that you should look not just in books, but in musty old boxes, sheet music, maps and even the hearts and minds of veterans to really learn about the world.

After seeing your hard work in the various divisions first hand, there is no doubt in my mind that you will all have an indelible positive impact on the library profession, your communities and the world. I hope the network we created this summer will remain strong so that we can continue to share our ideas, creativity and passion with each other.

The expertise and enthusiasm shown by the Library staff was also encouraging. Thank you for investing your time in us and acting as living examples of what we can aspire to. I would like to give special thanks to George Thuronyi, who went above and beyond as a committee member and supervisor. Our Junior Fellows experience, and my time in the Copyright office, would not have been nearly as magical without his thoughtful guidance and enthusiasm.

A wise woman once said, “There’s always gonna be another mountain. I’m always gonna wanna make it move. Always gonna be an uphill battle. Sometimes you’re gonna have to lose.” And Miley Cyrus was right - those words are true, and I’m confident that we will move forward from this internship with the skills and experience to overcome any challenge that comes our way, whether it’s our first year of grad school, a tense economic climate or a tough job market. (I’d like to take this moment to encourage all Library employees considering retirement to please do so.)

I’d like to share a poem I wrote in honor of this perfect summer:

Huzzah, huzzah for the Junior Fellows
It seems like just yesterday we first said hello

A greater group will never be had
We know our departure makes you sad

But instead of feeling blue
Think of all we got to do

Traveled the stacks like Bedouins
Recorded the stories of Veterans

Shared some stories and had some laughs
Cataloged prints and photographs

Celebrated with music and with dance
Indulged in fleeting summer romance

Watched the hearing for Sotomayor
Learned about Minerva above the door

Literally we dodged some bullets (This is me!)
And saw many tourists with awesome mullets

Gasped when the Bay Psalm Book was waved around
Rejoiced when a first edition Russian Dostoyevsky was found

I’ll treasure the memories of the new friends I met
And ride a book cart into the sunset

On behalf of all the interns, we would like to once again thank the generous support of the Madison Council, who made this program possible. We also thank Dr. Billington, Dr. Marcum, the entire Junior Fellows Committee, Katherine Blood, Beth Davis-Brown, George Thuronyi, Seth de Matties, Lynne Kidder, IPO and Conservation, the Jonas Brothers, Michael Jackson.

Best of luck to the 2009 Junior Fellows - you are all rock stars and I wish you the very best in all you do!