After graduating from SU, I decided to combine my love of history with my passion for creativity and pursued my graduate degree in Museum Studies. Now I am in Washington, D.C., finishing my last year at The George Washington University studying museum exhibition content development and design. Recently, I finished an internship at the Sewall-Belmont House & Museum, a historic site that interprets the history of the American woman’s suffrage and the National Woman’s Party. During this internship I worked closely with staff to reinstall all the permanent exhibitions. I also had the opportunity to research, write, and design my own online exhibition, “In Honor of the Past, In Pledge to the Future,” that debuted on Women’s Equality day, August 26, 2011. In the fall, I plan to intern at the Smithsonian Institution’s Traveling Exhibition Service. Writing and designing exhibitions is like creating a visual research paper, it allows you to discuss important ideas with the public by bringing in visual and interactive elements to engage them with the content.

Southwestern’s history department offered a unique experience, and it shaped the way I now approach all academics. Not only did I gain invaluable research and writing skills, I was also introduced to a variety of interesting topics from guerilla movements to utopian societies that challenged my way of thinking. It encouraged me to think critically and explore beyond the dominant historical interpretations. In my career this has influenced the ways I choose exhibit topics to research, how I interpret and read objects in the museum, and how I strive to tell the more overlooked and unheard stories.