 Hi, my name is Janine Bauer and I am one of the lucky recipients of the Director's Scholarship for Excellence Awards. I am so honored and thankful to have received this award, especially since I was able to earn it simply by using creativity to showcase my love for libraries. Currently, I work full-time at the Urban Nail Public Library in Iowa and my area of specialty is marketing the library and designing promotional materials. I have been so fortunate to have gained such a rewarding position with my experience alone, but I am confident that if I earned an education in library science, I could do so much more in my position. However, I had never planned on continuing my education, so I never budgeted for a graduate program. Therefore, I will be taking classes one at a time and that's why I am so thankful for this scholarship because it's actually going to enable me to take more classes than I had anticipated. I am also thankful for this scholarship because the process alone has already benefited my current position by coming up with new ideas for marketing the library and doing library displays and creating library signage. So, it proves to me that my education is going to be beneficial in my current position and hopefully help me advance my career in the future. Thanks again for this opportunity. I am looking forward to starting my education with San Jose State University.