The final spotlight in our Summer Spotlight series is on Tessa Biesterfield! Tessa is entering her second year in the MI program and offers great insight into student life. Thanks to Alysha, Ramina, Kellie, and Tessa for contributing blog posts for this series. We hope you enjoyed getting to know a few of our SIM students and look forward to welcoming our new cohort of students at our fall Orientation Week! Keep visiting us at our website for more information on the exciting programming and events we have lined up for the 2022/23 year!
Hi folks! Hope everyone is enjoying their summer – I know I have! I am excited to soon be starting my second year at SIM, but I can’t believe how fast this summer is flying by.
Are you working/volunteering anywhere this summer?
I have been working on a few different research projects this summer. One for a family member writing a book, one for a friend doing her PhD in Biology at Dalhousie, and one with a group of SIM students helping faculty at the School of Public Administration with some research. However, I do have a full-time job this summer doing database management for Dalhousie’s Human Rights and Equity Services department. It has been great to put so many of the things I learned in first year to practical use – controlled vocabulary, creating database views, Boolean operators, as well as some privacy practices. While the subject matter of the work I do can be heavy at times, it feels great to be contributing something meaningful to my new community at Dalhousie. Everywhere there is information to be managed, and it feels good to help my community, friends, and family with the skills that I am learning at SIM.
What is your favorite summer activity? Or your favourite Halifax activity?
I only moved to Halifax just last autumn, and I am still getting to know the city! There has been a lot going on this summer – free concerts, local festivals, and the waterfront is always busy. There are beer gardens, ice cream stands – one of my favourite places to get a snack is Chunchung Rice Dogs by Citadel Hill. They come on a stick and you can pick whatever toppings you want. Picking up a rice dog or an ice cream cone and walking around downtown is a nice treat for me at the end of a workday or as a break. I also live close to the public gardens, and love to take a few minutes to have a snack on a park bench or to wander around and smell the roses.
As much as I enjoy living downtown, I love to get out of the city when I can. There are so many lovely trails close to Halifax – Long Lake Provincial Park, Chain of Lakes Trail, and Hemlock Ravine Park are all close by. After spending so much time reading or doing work online, sometimes nothing is more satisfying to me than getting a breath of fresh air for a couple of hours. Sometimes I go by myself, or with friends, or I’ll take my dogs with me.