Image credit: A VerMeulen
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Allison Holtzman has been working at the Library for a while now. The senior English major, with minors in Philosophy and Spanish, has been serving the SMCM community as a Circulation student employee since her sophomore year.

Originally from Parkville, Maryland, Allison came to St. Mary’s in part because her older brother was an SMCM student at the time (class of 2015). Though the family connection helped, ultimately Allison selected St. Mary’s thanks to the beautiful natural setting.

Studying abroad during her Junior year, Allison was able to work toward her goal of becoming fluent in Spanish in the picturesque surroundings of Granada, Spain. There, Allison was able to fully embrace her dual desires for a calm and relaxing natural environment and the vibrant culture that comes with city life. In Granada, she was able to enjoy the perks of city living, while also being able to explore the beautiful countryside just outside the city limits.

As someone with a variety of interests, Allison’s academic work at St. Mary’s reflects her curiosity. In addition to gaining important writing and communication skills, she enjoys learning about and discussing critical theories surrounding ethics, race, gender, feminism, and Marxism – concepts introduced through her studies in English and Philosophy. Allison plans to complete an SMP through the English department exploring how slam and spoken word poetry act as a means of resistance by interviewing feminist poets at the forefront of the movements in Baltimore, MD and Ferguson, MO.

The family connection came into play again when it was time to find a campus job. Allison’s brother was also a Circulation student employee during his time at SMCM, and recommended Allison to Linda Russell, the Daytime Circulation Supervisor. When at the Library, Allison’s favorite thing about her job is shelving the books. The meditative activity requires a focus and attention to detail that she finds very calming. On top of the relaxing aspect of shelving the books, Allison enjoys learning about the books in the Library as she puts them away.

After graduation, Allison plans on eventually going to grad school for a Masters in Social Work while working in Baltimore. Long term, she would like to live in New York City, which would be ideal for Allison, with it’s melting pot of cultures and combination of city life and culture and parks and green spaces.