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As I mentioned in my previous post I have completed my two year course work for the dance/movement therapy & counseling program.  With that said, I was able to walk in graduation.  So for all intents and purposes I have “graduated” graduate school and have gotten my master’s (and a really cool hood).  Upon graduation of course everyone keeps asking me, “what’s next?”

Good question.

I guess the usual answer to this question is “look for a job,” “travel,” “apply to a doctorate program.”   You know, the typical things people do after graduating a master’s program.  However, I am not answering by saying any of those responses.  Even though I did the “graduation” thing, I still technically have not received my master’s degree (yes, that empty booklet was ever disappointing).  Instead, my summer is outlined by working towards my master’s degree and finally getting that damn piece of paper!

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First and foremost, I still have to complete one final course for the dance/movement therapy & counseling program.  The class, titled Family Counseling, explores counseling methodologies for working with families and couples, such as Internal Family Systems Therapy.  The class takes place one weekend in July and and one weekend in August.  It is the final academic requirement (at least in class form) for the program.

This summer also includes working on my thesis project, that little ol’ thing.  Most of my work last semester was working on getting things lined up to work on my project.  I wrote a proposal that has been submitted to the Columbia College IRB, and I also received permission at my internship site, Anixter Center, to conduct research.  Unfortunately I can’t collect any data (which includes directly working with my former clients) until the IRB gives me the go ahead.  Until they do, I plan on working on my literature review and the other beginning chapters of my thesis.

Another aspect of my summer (which I am super excited about) is completing course work for the Graduate Laban Certificate in Movement Analysis (GL-CMA) program.  I have already begun the program, as it overlapped with my Spring semester, and I am super geeked to continue learning about Rudolf von Laban and his life’s work.  It’s been super nice to learn and talk about movement for the sake of movement, and not interweave notions of psychology; which of course is the focus of the DMT & C program.  The GL-CMA program is a fourteen month commitment so I will be finished (and a certified movement analyst) next summer!

That about sums up my summer of 2012 (sprinkled with some waitressing), which looking at it seems like a lot of work.  It is going to be a lot of work, but ultimately the type of work I want to be doing.  I might try to travel a bit during the summer (or wait til September when things settle down), you know to keep somewhat sane.  I’m getting there, though— closer to actually getting my master’s degree.

As a side note, check out the Columbia College graduate student Flickr account for pictures from this year’s Manifest PGA: Please Generate Art project.  Below is a picture I took of my piece (and co-artist Courtney St. Clair) titled, “Down the Rabbit Hole.”

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