Nathan Neal ’17 Carnegie Museum of Montgomery County-This summer I had the amazing opportunity to intern at the Carnegie Museum in Crawfordsville, Indiana. I honestly did not know what to expect from the Carnegie and what tasks I would be assigned. Later, I learned that this internship utilized the skills I acquired from Wabash and provided me with a valuable experience for a number of future careers.
My assigned tasks involved a range of duties including administration, research projects, proposals, press releases, and supervising groups of children. During the summer months of June and July, the museum runs a program known as Summer at the Museum; therefore, I helped parents and their children sign up for the program as well as assist them with any questions they might have. The program runs all summer, with the kids doing five activities that they could do any day they came in. The day to day administration duties paired with the Museum’s most popular program allowed me to improve my communication skills to ensure that people had a fun and exciting experience at the Carnegie.
Aside from the administration duties, I worked on a number of larger projects dealing with research, press releases, proposals, and other summer events. For the first project, I worked alongside the curator in writing a proposal for a local Ted Talk event known as Tedx. Not only was it written for the museum, but for the county as well. The proposal report included instructions on how to organize the event and why such an event would be beneficial to the community. My duties extended beyond the Carnegie Museum, in which I worked with the other museums in Crawfordsville and the Chamber Board.
Another project involves writing a press release and designing a flyer for an upcoming event known as Geeks Who Drink. The Carnegie is also host to a number of events not dealing directly with museum duties and responsibilities. Geeks Who Drink is a pub trivia company; therefore, my task was to attract a college-aged audience. This task gave me valuable marketing and social media experience that I otherwise would not have received on my own.
The largest project of the summer that I worked on was a research project over Montgomery County Schools. The museum wanted to design an exhibit over the history of the schools pre- and post-consolidation. This is the project that I really had the chance to utilize my research skills I acquired from Wabash. By looking online, at old newspapers, and at books, I researched the history of each high school building, Montgomery County sports, and the evolution of education. It was a learning experience for me and an opportunity to help others learn about the history of education in Montgomery County
My internship at the Carnegie was a great experience that I will remember my whole life. I would like to thank the Lilly Endowment for funding the internship and the Carnegie Museum staff for offering me this position. I have learned skills that will last a lifetime and prove essential to pursuing my future professional goals.
