A day in the life of a graduate student:

Canada native Anne-Lynn Gajadhar leads an exciting yet challenging life. She is a graduate student at ECU's School of Social Work and holds an internship while juggling two part-time jobs.

Born in Toronto, Canada, Gajadhar moved to Greenville with her parents and younger sister in 1991. In addition to being Canadian, she is also half Caribbean: her father is from Freeport, Trinidad. She visits her relatives in Toronto and Freeport during summer and winter vacations.

Gajadhar is in her second semester of graduate school now. In addition to her regular school curriculum, she works part-time as a graduate assistant in the School of Social Work and is an intern at Prevention Outpatient Residential Transitional (PORT) Human Services in Greenville. She also is a cashier at a local restaurant.

Gajadhar's schedule is hectic. Her class sessions, internship and graduate assistant job all last throughout the workweek. She is awake and driving from her house to ECU or PORT before 8 a.m. every weekday.

Saturdays are spent cashiering. Sundays she spends working on school-related projects and homework or leisure reading.

As a graduate assistant, Gajadhar spends five hours per week coding and organizing data for a professor at the School of Social Work.

"I help the professor do research and code data. It's interesting because my undergrad research class didn't really make sense at the time," she said. "I was just reading about research methods but now I'm able to do actual hands-on research. Now by coding this data it's all starting to click: I understand the research methods better."

Gajadhar is also enrolled in 15 semester hours of graduate level classes. Full-time attendance in graduate school is nine semester hours.

"My graduate classes are more in-depth and involve more critical thinking than my undergrad classes did," Gajadhar said.

At PORT, Gajadhar works in the Children's Department under the Adolescent Outreach program. She goes out into the Greenville community working with her colleagues to help children make good life choices.

Gajadhar is responsible for teaching drug abuse and lifestyle choice seminars. These lectures are what PORT calls "Reconnecting Youth." Gajadhar's work at PORT periodically takes her to health fairs at local schools.

"I've been exposed to many different things from working with children in the community. I've applied what I've learned at ECU thus far into my work at PORT," she said.

The ECU Graduate School requires that all students submit an application via the Internet or through regular mail with an application fee. A letter of intent must be written and submitted along with undergraduate transcripts and applicable letters of recommendation. Students entering master's degree programs also have to complete aptitude tests and fulfill other requirements that vary by field of study.

ECU's Dean of Graduate Studies, Paul Gemperline, believes that ECU is an exceptional place to earn a graduate degree.

"We currently offer 75 master's degree programs and 48 graduate certificate programs through our 10 colleges and schools," said Gemperline. "In addition, we offer 17 doctoral programs and hold the distinction of being classified among the Doctoral/Research Universities by the Carnegie Foundation."

Of graduate school, Gajadhar said, "Technically my jobs are not so demanding. They're laid back. My professors give me my assignments in advance. I get specific deadlines so I know what I'm working with. I'm busy now but in the long run it will be worth it."

During the short amount of free time she has, Gajadhar likes to read books, hang out with friends and watch movies.

After she receives her master's degree, she wants to begin her career in the social work field. She specifically wants to work with children who are involved with substance abuse or are the victims of child abuse.

This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.