 Hi, my name is Stacy Nerdin and I was selected as a spring 2023 recipient of a special session scholarship for new students. I would like to thank Dr. Chow, Dr. Harlan, Dr. Bolen, and the entire student awards and scholarship committee for this exciting honor. When I was putting together my scholarship application, I felt a little bit insecure about the topic that I chose to cover. I don't have any professional experience in a library setting, but I have been active as a volunteer steward of tiny branches, which are small lending libraries placed in community parks by our public library system. I also steward a lending library in front of my own home through the Little Free Library Project. I wondered to myself if the scholarship committee would recognize my volunteer efforts as leadership and if I had properly conveyed in my application just how passionate I am about making books and information available to all members of my community. Well, I am so happy and grateful to the scholarship committee for seeing the value and potential in my volunteer efforts and for giving me the confidence and financial means to translate this into a degree and eventual profession in library and information science. Thank you.