I really enjoyed my time interning at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage. It was a great learning experience and taught me a lot about leadership. My direct supervisor was a fantastic example of a strong leader. He ensured that I had a variety of project that would challenge me and help me grow. This included putting me in contact with the Center’s archival department so I could learn more about what it was like working in an archive which has been a career path I want to explore. He was also very understanding of the challenges of being both a student and an intern and worked to ensure I could balance all of my responsibilities. The amazing work culture at the center and my awesome boss means I will definitely miss working at the Smithsonian.

Some of the projects I worked on included: cataloging oral histories of Holocaust survivors from Cincinnati, researching the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry Americanization Committee, finding reviewers for the Journal of American folklife and indexing archival material. I really liked all of my projects but my favorite thing was probably finding reviewers because it was fun to solve the puzzle of finding someone who was an expert in the field but not involved with the project.