No one ever said your educational journey would be easy. Some days will be challenging because no matter how hard you work it never seems good enough. Some days will be overwhelming because you are not comprehending or communicating the concepts at the expected level. Some days will be discouraging because you’ll find yourself like Allanté, feeling alone in the middle of class fighting back tears of inadequacy. How do you fight that feeling? 

“Take a step back, and remind yourself that you’re in school to learn.”

To combat her challenges in the classroom Allanté used Facebook as a resource and found a number of black women in graduate school groups, and Black PHDs networks.  These groups served as an outlet to remind her that these feelings are very common. Having Skyped with a group member for over an hour discussing her concerns, Allante was prompted to be transparent and share her challenges so that no one else feels alone when they have a bad day. 

Today’s Lesson: “Having an active community in-person, and online to support you through the process is really important. There are people who have already been through this, who want to support, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.”