This past summer I was blessed with the opportunity to help work on the project of digitizing publications and other documents from the Malcolm X Institute of Black Studies down at the Wabash Archives. Kim King introduced me to this great opportunity, and it allowed me to help make the documents more accessible to the student body. I was able to learn from and work for our archivist, Nolan Eller and digital archivist, Evan Miller. This internship gave me a greater understanding of what the Malcolm X Institute is and how it was created. This increased my appreciation for the Institution and also showed me how difficult it really was to just open and maintain the institution. This opportunity also gave me a better understanding of the effort and work that the founding fathers of the MXI put in to establish its place here on campus. During my internship we went to the museum in Indianapolis and were able to see some cool artifacts and other presentations on black history in America.
I was able to utilize a couple of my strengths that were identified from the Clifton Strengths quiz. I was able to use my analytical strength to filter through different documents and save the ones that helped bring value to students and others. It also helped me to organize and align the documents with their time periods. I was also able to rely on my futuristic strength to understand the purpose of saving those documents and why they should be made available to students now and in the future. I am very thankful for the opportunity to help take part in continuing to tell the story of the Malcom X Institute, why it’s on campus, and why it is important.
