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.
Hi! My name is Ariella, and I’m from Livingston, New Jersey. I’m a rising junior at Johns Hopkins University, a short drive away in the Charles Village neighborhood. I’m majoring in Writing Seminars and minoring in Marketing and in Museums and Society, so it makes a lot of sense that I’m here for the summer. I’m interning in the Education and Programs departments for the next few months. Some facts about myself are that I play Quidditch at school (it is a real competitive sport, I promise), I perform stand up-comedy, and I lived in Israel for a year before starting college. I also love Game of Thrones, but I’m three seasons behind and actively trying to avoid spoilers.
I’m really excited to be interning at JMM this summer! As a freshman, I was pretty unsure as to what I should study. Hopkins offers a Museums minor, and my friends (and my mom) thought that I’d love a class or two in the department. During my soph-omore fall, I realized I love the subject. But I want more than just classes: I want to have real experience in a real museum. That’s where JMM comes in, and I can’t wait to work on projects here!
With Education and Programs, I hope to develop new programming and continue connecting to the community. I also want to have a general sense of what it’s like to work in a museum. I’m looking forward accomplishing these tasks in the next ten weeks.Hi! My name is Megan Orbach. I’m from Potomac, Maryland and am an incoming senior at Towson University. I’m studying family science and am pursuing a master’s in leadership in Jewish communal service and education. I chose this path of study after having attended Jewish day school, visiting Israel and generally being interested in Jewish affairs. A couple fun facts about me include that I studied abroad in Tel Aviv this past spring and I love playing soccer!
I am extremely excited to be interning at the Jewish Museum of Maryland this summer for a few reasons. The first is that my field of study and passion are both related to the mission of the JMM, which is all about preserving history and Jewish education, and the exhibits that are displayed at the museum. I find it fascinating to be able to walk through years of history and to learn about, not just the Holocaust, but also unique stories like that of Hedy and Paul Strnad.
This will not be my first experience interning at a Jewish organization, but it will be my first experience interning at a museum. I am very interested to learn about the intricacies and workings of the museum and how each department contributes to its functioning. As an undergraduate student who will soon be graduating, my interest is always peaked by learning opportunities and potential career paths.
This summer, I hope to further strengthen my skills in development and fundraising and learn more about how each exhibit is planned and executed. (Photo: Bahai Gardens – Haifa, Israel)Hello! I’m Mallory Connaughton. I am from Crofton, Maryland and I go to school in Reading, Pennsylvania at Albright College. I am a history major with a minor in evolutionary studies. My historical focus tends to be on European history, specifically during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance; although I do love world history and learning about new topics. I also have a strong background in science. I was in the STEM program in High School, focusing on Green Architecture and Sustainable design – which has slowly bled into the Bio/Psych of my evolutionary studies minor.
Outside of school and work, I tend to fill my time with various creative activities. I sew, write, dance and story tell regularly. I go to comic conventions with my roommates, most of the time partaking in panels (even running some), dressing up and holding photoshoots.
While looking for collection internships I found JMM. My other internships had been in DC and in Chestertown, so I’ve never really looked at Baltimore before. But I did find the position at JMM and I was quick to apply, as it was exactly what I wanted to do. As I wasn’t familiar was the museum, I started to look into programs at JMM, current exhibits and exploring the website. I was immediately interested in the exhibits at JMM; I love historical fashion, my roommate and I often creating historical replicas of the various fashion trends of different times. I also saw how they had an extensive and wide variety of artifacts, manuscripts, books, and photographs in their collections – Which I found very interesting.
I am so excited to work with JMM this summer! I can’t wait to learn more about working with collections, learning new methods of working with the materials, and working directly with a wider variety of works than I had before. I’m incredibly excited for all the options that will be presented over this summer, everything from directly working with the collections, to working in a museum, to networking – I cannot wait for everything I am going to learn and experience.Hello there! My name is Hannah Balik, and I am an Education and Programming intern here at the Jewish Museum of Maryland this summer. I am 21 years old and from Westchester County, New York. I recently graduated from Goucher College with a BA in Sociology/Anthropology with a minor in History. Some facts about myself: I love to bake (bread, cookies, pies, etc.), I have dog named Daphne (who you can follow on Instagram at @daphnethesheepdog), and I get no greater joy than binging whole TV shows in one night.
I wanted to intern at a museum because I have always loved museums. I love the feeling that I get stepping into a room filled with history and historical knowledge. Museums serve a very important role in public education, which is something that I am very passionate about. I am also specifically interested in Jewish history, and I think that it is extremely important, especially in our time, to remember the past so that we can learn and grow from it. I think that it is essential for this knowledge to be publicly available for everyone to engage with.
This summer, I hope to learn more about how museums work from the back end, as well as try my hand at creating and helping to execute educational programs for people of all ages. I have always loved museums and learning about Jewish history, so I am greatly excited for this opportunity to gain real world museum experience and dive deeper into subjects that I am passionate about.Hello! My name is Elana Neher and I am a collections intern at the JMM this summer. I am originally from New Jersey but have been at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore for the past three years where I major in Archaeology and East Asian Studies with minors in Museums and Society and Near Eastern Studies. I’ve been in love with museums of every kind for as long as I can remember. Once I began exploring my interests in college, I realized that my museum studies courses and any class where I was able to work with material culture were some of my favorites. My wish to strengthen my connection with my Jewish heritage through my love of objects and material culture led me to interning at the JMM.Outside of school, I enjoy cross stitching, doing yoga, and watching science fiction movies, especially superhero ones . One fun fact about me is that in order to complete my required fieldwork for my archaeology major, I spent the summer of 2017 in Israel excavating the site of Legio, an ancient Roman military camp in the Galilee area, and interning at The W.F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, right outside the Old City. I connected with Israel’s history and culture in a way that I never was able to before. Throughout my college career I have had the unique opportunity to study many different times and places of the human past, particularly through their material culture, and I am excited to finally engage with my own culture and its objects at the JMM this summer.
Welcome to the team! Looking forward to meeting all of you!
Wow, what a wonderful group of interns. Their interest and talents are wide spread making future conversations with them deep and meaningful. Good vibes and a fun summer to be had by all.
2 replies on “Welcome Summer 2019 Interns!”
Welcome to the team! Looking forward to meeting all of you!
Wow, what a wonderful group of interns. Their interest and talents are wide spread making future conversations with them deep and meaningful. Good vibes and a fun summer to be had by all.