Emily Stark ’18

Posted by Elly Fieffer

This interview with Emily Stark was conducted October 2021

Q: Describe your current work? Have you completed any post-graduate training or education?

I am a mental health counselor working at a private practice in Liberty Lake, WA. I completed the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Masters program at Gonzaga University; I graduated in May of this year. I hold the Licensed Mental Health Counselor Associate (LMHCA) certification, which means I am a mental health counselor that just needs to be supervised by a licensed counselor supervisor until I meet the hour requirements for full licensure, which will take roughly 2 years. I am also a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC), as I took the National Counselor Exam and passed.

Q: What did you learn through your major that you find useful today?

My major was technically Psychology and Anthropology, and many people think the psych part is the most important for my current career, but that’s definitely not true. I learned so much in my anthro classes, especially the ones related to health, medicine, and gender. Anthropology taught me to accept others readily, because both differences and similarities run so deep. One of my favorite soap boxes to get on is “I think everyone everywhere should take at least one anthropology course in their life.” Anthropology is relevant to every single person and career in some way, shape, or form.

Q: Describe a transformative experience you had at Butler.

I don’t think I can identify a single transformative experience at Butler…my entire undergraduate career was pretty transformative, for reasons both related and unrelated to my educational experience. I do know that my major provided me with a very strong foundation for graduate school and my career as a counselor, as my experience was more than just psychology-related.

Q: Is there anything you wish you would have done differently?

I don’t think I would do anything differently. I’ve learned from many of the decisions I made, and I am content with where I am now in terms of my career. If anything, I would have double majored in Psych and Anthro instead of doing a combined major, but I might have died from that, considering the workload I already had…

Q: What advice would you give to current students?

Trust your gut. Talk to professors. Make connections with professors—not just for recommendations and help with classes, but for advice and support. Although I am awful about keeping up with people, there are several professors from Butler that I will always love and remember fondly, and reach out to occasionally to catch up (Hi, Dr. Edwards). My experience with professors in graduate school was not nearly as positive as my experience with professors in undergrad, so if you happen to have a professor you really like (or even if you meet them but don’t have them for a class), reach out to them and connect!

Claudia Vinci ’19

Posted by Elly Fieffer

This interview with Claudia Vinci was conducted May 2021

Q: What graduate program are you currently in and what are you hoping to do with it?

I just finished the first year of my master’s in public history at American University in Washington, D.C. I did not even know what public history was before I applied to graduate programs, but public history involves the many ways in which history is presented in the world. This could include museum work, archives, consulting, government historians, preservation, activism, and many other ways in which public historians apply history in the real world. Check out the National Council on Public History as a resource! 

Q: How did you learn about that career/program? What drew you to that option specifically?

It took me a long time to figure out exactly what I wanted to do and where I wanted to go for my master’s, but it was worth it in the end! Once I decided to choose to study history in my graduate career, which was a somewhat hard decision in itself, I spent a lot of time researching graduate programs in history. There are several different options for history graduate programs, but I quickly knew that I wanted to do either a museum studies or public history track. 

I really struggled to narrow my decision down to one of the schools, but I ended up choosing American University because of the countless museum and public history opportunities in Washington, D.C., as well as the strength of the program and their connections. For example, a couple of my primary research interests are Chinese history and Chinese American history. In my program so far, I have worked with the 1882 Foundation, an organization promoting awareness of Chinese American history and specifically the Chinese Exclusion Laws, both in my public history practicum course and I was an intern with them this summer. 

Q: What was the most shocking about shifting from undergrad to graduate?

Graduate programs can be very different from school to school, but for me, the most shocking transition was the interesting combination of being an emerging professional and a student. Sometimes graduate students are treated like professionals, sometimes their work is taken advantage of (example: unpaid internships). I have navigated this so far in classes, internships, guest speaker panels, and other places, but the more experience you get and the further you get in your program, the more you will get used to this interesting position of being graduate students and interns in the field. 

 Q: What piece of advice would you give a Butler senior? What about a Butler first year?

For a senior, I would encourage them to not think about their future like there is one right answer for what they choose to do. I thought that I had to choose one thing and stick with that for the rest of my life, and this was extremely daunting for me. Yes, I knew that I loved history and museums, but I was unsure how to dedicate myself to this career and how exactly I would get there. I still do not know exactly what I want to do in the public history field, but I chose something that I was genuinely excited about to get me to the next step of a long process. With all of this being said, maybe take a year to work and figure out some answers to the questions you have about your future. You do not have to figure all of this out on your own. Use your support system or seek people out that can help you because this was valuable to me.

For a first-year, your opportunities are endless and keep in mind that college is what you make of it. Looking back, I am so grateful that I was able to take advantage of different academic and extracurricular activities at Butler. While not all of these things ended up on my resume, so many of them were learning experiences that led me to where I am today. Also, make good connections with your professors and advisors if you can, especially because this is one of Butler’s major strengths. Throughout my time at Butler, and while applying to graduate school and internships, my professors and advisors were always a great area of support and advice in and out of the classroom.