Hi again! This is my recap of my YLT internship for the month of May. Like always, it was a busy month, but I enjoyed every step of the process as we are continually moving closer to the final week-long intensive in Washington DC.
To start off May, Ori and Megan (two Smithsonian directors), travel to Colorado to meet us in person! Although I only got to see them for a few hours, it was quite meaningful to connect with them outside of a screen. Along with Ori and Megan, I also met Sunny, a fellow history intern from Ridgway, at the Ute Museum. We were given a tour by Kelly (my former band director’s wife), who shared all the exhibits of the Ute Museum. I hadn’t been since its remodeling in 2017, so it was especially interesting to revisit it in a new setting, especially now that I’m older and have a better understanding of historical importance.
Left to right: Kelly, our tour guide, CJ, the director of the Montrose Ute Museum, Ori and Megan, Sunny, and me.
All of us on a tour.
While Ori and Megan were here, Sunny and I worked on story curation connected to the Smithsonian’s theme, In Pursuit of Life, Liberty, and Happiness. I focused on agricultural/farming life in Olathe and the stories of families who migrated here seeking better education and opportunity because it is something I connect with personally. From this work, we were asked to develop questions that would help us explore these stories more deeply. These were some of the questions I came up with:
How is the next generation of immigrants taking advantage of the work that our parents and grandparents did to set us up for the life we have now? Does it make students better? What sacrifices/responsibilities have immigrant youth had to make for their families?
I also had an awesome conversation with Ori about my interests and passions in the political sector. She connected me with a contact at the George Washington School of Political Management, and I plan on having an informational interview with him in the coming weeks. George Washington has been on my college list for quite some time, so this opportunity felt especially meaningful. This internship has also reinforced the importance of building relationships, since you never know where a conversation might lead.
Picture of me at The George Washington University earlier this year.
Our final guest speaker for the virtual portion of my internship was Nichole Hill, a public historian and producer/host of the “Our Ancestors Were Messy” podcast. Her work of analyzing historical newspapers from the Jim Crow era and highlighting literal gossip in a storytelling format gave me a completely new perspective on how history can be told in such creative and accessible ways.
As we wrapped up our virtual sessions, we also began finalizing the planning portion for content creation in DC. While I’m not entirely sure if I can share details yet, I can say the project has become much more than just storytelling and collaboration, which is what I initially expected.
Overall, this month felt like a transition point with the closing out of virtual work with legitimate in-person preparation for DC. I’ve grown a lot these months in how I approach historical inquiry and how I engage in conversations with people from different backgrounds.
Outside of the internship, I finished up my track season, earned my official Seal of Biliteracy in Spanish, and received a scholarship to Colorado Schools of Mines (too bad STEM isn’t really my thing)! I also won a 5K race in my division.
Now, I just have a few final assignments before the trip to DC from July 12-17th.
Stay tuned!
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