Welcome Summer 2018 Interns!
We are so pleased to welcome this summer’s Interns to the Museum! This cohort has spent their week learning about the Museum and diving into their intern projects. You’ll be hearing from them throughout the summer as they explore the world of Museums and the Jewish Museum of Maryland in particular. Below they have kindly introduced themselves in their own words.
I am a recent graduate of Gettysburg College, where I studied English, the American Civil War, and Education. However, my time spent studying aboard in Prague, Czech Republic, awakened a deep passion for world literature, particularly works that explore the rise, fall, and dire consequences of fascism and authoritarianism in twentieth century Europe. I melded these interests with my love of science fiction for my departmental honors thesis, which explores systems of oppression in literary works about robots.
My experiences studying Jewish mysticism and folklore at home and abroad brought me closer to my Jewish heritage and fueled my excitement to research my genealogy. What I found was that parts of my family emigrated from Russia settled in Baltimore on Low Street, just three blocks away from the museum! I am extremely excited to bring my passion for public education and Jewish life to help facilitate experiential and unforgettable learning for all who come through our doors! If you spot me around the museum, please feel free to stop me and say hi!
I was born in Spain and raised in the beautiful island of Puerto Rico. I love traveling, reading, drawing, and watching Netflix. Ever since I was little I’ve been interested in history specifically the topics of the Second World War, The Tudors, and Greece.
I decided to intern at the Jewish Museum of Maryland because I thought it was the perfect opportunity for me to gain experience on the museum world while working on different topics I’m interested. I’m eager to research the Lloyd Synagogue and create exciting exhibitions for the public. This summer I hope to expand my knowledge on Jewish history and explore the city of Baltimore!
I am originally from Pennsylvania but have been living in Nashville for the past two years while I attend Vanderbilt Divinity School. I am working on my Masters of Theological Studies degree and will finish this December. My areas of focus are the Holocaust and Jewish Studies. I received my bachelor’s degree from Albright College and my majors were History and Religious Studies with a Holocaust Studies certificate. I love to read and am very excited to spend the summer reading for pleasure. In my free time I enjoy cross stitching and watching horror movies.
I wanted to intern at a museum this summer because after I graduate from Divinity School I want to work in the museum world. I have always loved going to museums since I was a small child. I have previously worked in archives and libraries. I am thrilled to be working in the education and programming departments this summer.
I want to help educate the children and the adults that come through the museum and leave them with an experience that they will never forget. I look forward to everything that I will be doing this summer and I am thrilled to be here.
Hi! My name is Cara Bennet. I was born in Washington, D.C. and grew up in Bethesda, MD. As a Maryland Jew I am beyond excited to be interning at the JMM this summer. I graduated from Vassar College in 2015 where I majored in history and minored in Native American studies. I am currently a graduate student at George Washington University working towards my Masters in Museum Studies and cannot wait to gain more hands-on exhibition development experience. This summer I’ll be working with Joanna on exhibition development where I’ll get the opportunity to observe and contribute to all stages of the process from initial research to script writing to installation.
I love internships. Throughout my academic career I have had some incredible internship opportunities that have taught me so much more than I could ever learn in a classroom setting. My first museum internship experience was conducting research for the curatorial department at the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC during the summer after my freshman year of college. Since then I’ve interned at the National Women’s History Museum and as a tour guide at Clara Barton National Historic Site. While I love internships, my ultimate goal is to be gainfully employed by a museum one day (hopefully in the near future) otherwise, JMM I may be back next summer to set the record for oldest intern.
When I’m not busy contemplating my career outlook, I love to run, hike, bake, and go to concerts. Some fun facts about me in no particular order: I’m a former college athlete (cross country and track), I studied “abroad” at the University of Hawai’i, and I wrote my senior thesis on Disney and 1960s counterculture (still not sure how I got away with that one).
I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, but moved to Baltimore four years ago to study at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). I’m the Collections Intern this summer for the Jewish Museum of Maryland, where I’ll be focusing on processing donated objects, as well as researching for an upcoming exhibit of the 100th year anniversary of The Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore.
I also found that I enjoyed reading and learning about nature, food, the internet, architecture, and art history. Frequently, I spent my free time dancing, playing with my cats, reading, and cooking.
In my senior year at college, I realized I wanted to get back to working in a hands-on environment, and found that museums combined all of my interests in education, creating narratives, and interactivity. I found that museum work was an interest of mine, but I felt I didn’t have enough experience to know if it was the right path for me. That’s what brought me to interning at the Jewish Museum of Maryland as one of the Collections Interns this summer. I want to discover how I fit into the museum world, while also learning more about my Jewish heritage. I also am excited to be inspired by working with the objects and photos in the collections, and I hope I can bring what I see and learn, and more of my Jewish experiences, into the art I make in the future.