I decided to intern at the Smithsonian this summer as I thought it would be a great opportunity for me to learn about museums and decide if I would want to do a museum concentration. I had a very positive experience at the museum and thus wish to continue learning about museums. What I loved about working at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History was the variety of fascinating people I got to talk to, learning about topics that I know little to nothing about before. The fact that I got to learn about the preservation and display of a variety of objects was very interesting to me. I loved learning from things beyond just written words but also from something which I could visually perceive. In the end what I loved most of my experience was the fact that I felt I was constantly learning through the stories of people and objects, something which I would like the opportunity to do again by returning to work at a museum.

My studies in anthropology and environmental science & policy serve to give me an understanding of science, culture and fair representation. I wish to be able to use the skills from these two majors and transfer it to the museum concentration in learning how to display knowledge and objects in a way which is easily comprehensable to the public but also thoughtful, informative, and respectful to the people and the objects. Anthropology gives me an understanding of the representation of culture in different mediums while environmental studies gives me an idea on the physical nature and care which needs to be given to said objects when presenting them, something that I learned was very important to displays when I was in the Smithsonian Natural History Museum through learning about such displays as the giant squid which is on display and how she is deteriorating quickly as a result of poor preservation techniques.

As I wish to concentrate my anthropology major on East Asia I wish to try and work with some Asian art collections in the coming future. Though I would like to work with a collection in Asia itself I see myself more realistically trying to intern at the Freer Gallery in DC. This way I can work with a collection which will be a little easier to reach though if I ever do have the opportunity to go to Asia and do work there with a collection I would be very happy to.