Peek Into the Daily Life of a Chatham Grad Student
From left: Chatham graduate students Hailey Pierce ’24, Jordan Seward ’24, and Olivia Ziemer ’24.
Graduate student life can conjure images of all work and no play: waking up at dawn to get to an 8:30 a.m. class, running to a full-time job off campus, staying up late to pore over books in the library. But there’s more than that, like taking a stroll to enjoy the beauty of Eden Hall, playing pickleball at Schenley Park, and eating cool gelato at Mercurio’s in Shadyside.
For graduate students at Chatham University, it’s all of that and more. Three of them, just two weeks into the fall semester, spoke to Pulse@ChathamU about how they manage their time, work, and stress during the intensive and rewarding process of post-graduate studies.
Jordan Seward ’24
Jordan Seward already had a master’s degree when she started to look for a graduate program that taught sustainable business. Chatham’s appeals to former members of the Peace Corps, where she previously volunteered, made it stand out during her search.
Living in a dorm wasn’t how she expected to be spending her second year of her dual-degree program, but she was pleasantly surprised by the accommodations she found at Chatham’s Eden Hall campus.
“I lived in a lot of dorms in undergrad, but this is the nicest one you could imagine,” Seward said. “The infrastructure is quality, but also, it’s an environment that’s entirely unique in the way it’s run. It’s communal-focused, the people are generous. It is a farm, so life is a little slow.”
Her first year wasn’t as leisurely; she was working full time and struggling to balance 9 a.m. classes and studying with her job. She was able to stop working this semester and focus fully on her class work, which includes consulting local companies on sustainable practices and doing group projects with her classmates.
Each of her classes is about 2.5 hours long and occurs once a week. She’ll also soon start to work at the Center for Regional Agriculture, Food, and Transformation (CRAFT), the nonprofit based at Eden Hall.
“The Eden Hall campus is what draws a lot of sustainability students here,” Seward said. “The systems we have in place here, how beautiful it is, opportunities to learn about the area— that’s the best.”
Olivia Ziemer ’24
Olivia Ziemer came to Chatham from Hartford, Mich., where she grew up on her family’s farm, surrounded by rows of corn and soy beans. She was attracted to the University because of its problem-based learning approach, the passion of the faculty (many of whom, she noted, were former Chatham students), and its proximity to Michigan.
During her first year, there was little flexibility in her schedule. Mornings were packed with classes, where she and her peers would analyze case studies, learn basic healthcare skills, and read medical literature with a close eye.
After finishing around 2:00 or 3:00 p.m., she and her roommate would study from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m., when they would go to bed. Ziemer said she tried to make studying fun by going to the library or enjoying a coffee while she pored over textbooks.
“I still enjoyed it,” Ziemer said. “Thankfully, I didn’t deal with depression or anxiety, and I was still able to enjoy a lot of it.”
Her second year has allowed for more personal time, Ziemer said. She does her clinical rotation at UPMC Children’s Hospital from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., comes home, cooks dinner, and sometimes meets with other MPAS students at Schenley Park for pickleball.
“It’s a lot more relaxing,” she said. “This weekend, I probably studied for three hours each day, so there’s definitely a lot more free time.”
“I feel like this year is going to go really, really fast,” she said. “That’s nice, to know graduation is close, because I’m already excited to be a PA.”
Hailey Pierce ’24
“Don’t make fun of me,” Hailey Pierce cautioned. “I play a lot of Fortnite.”
The third-person, battle royale shooter game was just one of the so-called “mindless” activities Pierce does to help her unwind from several daily hours of teaching, reading, and writing in Chatham’s MFA program.
She also hangs out around the main strip of Walnut Street in Shadyside, where she visits her friend who works at Mercurio’s, the Italian gelato and pizza shop. Like so many writers, one of her favorite things to do is walk through Pittsburgh’s Shenley Park, enjoying the outdoors and, like Ziemer, cajoling her friends into an occasional game of pickleball.
But the bulk of her time is spent at Chatham, where she teaches English composition on Monday, does her thesis seminar on Tuesday, teaches another class on Wednesday before heading to her 2.5-hour travel writing class, and attends her literature class (also 2.5 hours) on Thursday. That doesn’t count her office hours in Lindsay House, where she focuses on writing, studying, and searching for potential jobs.
“I’m barely keeping myself alive,” Pierce joked. But she counted herself lucky that she was able to attend graduate school without having to work simultaneously, thanks to a generous scholarship she was given for her teaching fellowship.
She also said she appreciated the camaraderie that comes with being in an intensive master’s program, where a diverse collection of students can support each other and develop bonds that are just as important as the education they’re receiving.
“There’s so much opportunity for me to actually get to know everyone,” Pierce said. “And, to know them as a person, and not as an academic, or a student, or even as a writer. I get to know the whole person.”
Check out our Instagram to see how Jordan Seward ’24 spends her time as an MSUS+MBA student at Eden Hall, and take a closer look at our diverse lineup of graduate programs.
Mick Stinelli is a Writer and Digital Content Specialist at Chatham University. His writing has previously appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and 90.5 WESA.