These are some of the stories behind the work.
Every student here came in at a different stage, with a different set of challenges.
What they have in common is that they got the support they needed to going.
A higher education administrator for nearly a decade, Laurie stepped out of her career to finish her dissertation. She had a plan. A good one, actually. She describes herself as someone who can build a planning spreadsheet like nobody’s business, and who can also get so caught up in the plan that the executing stalls.
She joined the Dissertation Finishers Circle near the end of her data collection. Then an unexpected IRB audit consumed two critical weeks. Then life kept moving, the way it does.
What she found in the Circle was community: people who celebrated her wins, gave her grace when she couldn’t give it to herself, and helped her right-size her goals week by week. She heard the same piece of advice over and over, keep going, and it turned out to be exactly what she needed.
Laurie recently graduated from the University of Rochester. Dr. Laurie Leo.
“I found getting through this very difficult goal more enjoyable, and more peaceful, being part of a Finisher Circle than doing it on my own.”
Life is really heavy sometimes, and we're trying to push this huge boulder up a hill. We're also a whole person that has health and emotions and family and lifey issues. I appreciate this group because there's an element of taking care of each other in this as well.
I thought about saying I can't come. And then it was like, no, I think I can show up how I am. I appreciate that I could do that.
I had made peace with the fact that I was probably going to do another semester. And then we figured out we could just do this. That was a great relief.
Some of those things that were in my back pocket, had I not had them ready, things would have been a little rougher. You made it so easy that I could just pull those up. I was really good. Really good.
