How Do You Want to Spend Your Days? 

Griswold ’06, who served as the keynote speaker for the Friday, April 17 event, is a certified nurse-midwife working in public health. She currently serves as a clinician at the Alexandria Health Department. She has served on the Virginia Department of Health Medical Advisory Committee and the Virginia Congenital Syphilis and Perinatal HIV Review Board, and has contributed to the development of statewide directives defining the role of public health nurses in mass care and sheltering settings.

“When I was at Foxcroft, I was certain that I wanted to be a veterinarian,” shared Griswold ’06. “Absolutely certain, no question at all. When I got to Duke University, I was flabbergasted by the number of potential career paths that I hadn't known existed, and I went into a bit of a crisis about that.”

“For someone who'd had a spotlight view on being a veterinarian,” she continued, “suddenly I was like, it would be a mistake not to turn my view more lantern-like and learn what else is even out there. So … second semester of my sophomore year, I looked at the whole course catalog. I thought, 'What looks vaguely interesting to me?' and picked four classes from four totally different departments, just to sample, knowing that I had this unique opportunity to be in college and soak up so many things.”

That decision changed the entire trajectory of her career, leading her from an interest in the intersecting work of government and NGOs in providing essential services, to a study abroad, and the discovery of midwifery. “I hadn't really heard of midwives before, other than in a medieval sense. I didn't know they were still a thing. I got back to Duke and started learning more. Started shadowing some midwives at Duke Hospital, and learned that I love working directly, one-on-one with people.” Griswold ’06 would go on to get a nursing degree from Georgetown University and a Master’s in nurse-midwifery from Vanderbilt University.

But that was not the end of her journey. As she progressed in her midwifery career, another curveball would come in the form of realizing some personal limitations and being honest with herself about them.

“I have a lot of colleagues and friends who can go grocery shopping while they're on call. They've got their pager. They're multitasking. I'm sitting there … I can't do anything else. This was a really uncomfortable truth for me. I wanted this to be different about myself, and it really took being a kind and loving student of myself to finally admit that this is not good for me.”

She had also lost hearing in one ear as a child and came to realize she read lips more than she had thought. “There is a team of people who are all wearing masks … You've got to be able to hear them. It was hard for me to recognize this limitation.”

“These felt like real speed bumps for me and my career, and changed how I thought about myself," she confessed, "because I was always someone who knew what I wanted to do and how to get there. So again, what kind of days do you want to have? What do you want your professional life to look like? These questions can change over time, and that's okay. Being responsive to them kindly is a skill that I encourage you to work on.” 

From there, Griswold ’06 would go on to work in public health at both the state and local levels, which is where she remains. “I get to practice midwifery in two distinct ways that really fill my cup. One of those ways is through public health thinking about population-level interventions and responses. The other part of my job is that direct patient care piece, and this is really where my heart is.” 

Griswold ’06 finished with a reminder to students regarding her initial advice to think about how they want to spend their days, and encouraged them to “reach out to the wide network of Foxcroft alums who would love to help you. I would love to help you. If anything that I talked about sparked something for you, please reach out.”

View video of her presentation.

The Career Day Keynote kicked off a morning full of stimulating sessions for students conducted by alumnae who graciously gave their time to share personal stories about their professional paths. These women, representing classes ranging from 1981 to 2017, hailed from a variety of careers and included a pediatrician, a national security professional, a former Army explosive ordnance disposal specialist, a software engineering director, a program chief for Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources Living Resource Assessment Team, a certified nurse-midwife, a shamanic practitioner, a realtor, an architect and designer, and a relationship health coach sharing their college-to-working world stories.

Students attended two sessions and undoubtedly learned a lot about the many possibilities for life after Foxcroft. Thank you to the remarkable women who gave their time and to the Office of Institutional Advancement for organizing the event.