Where are you from?
Hopkinton, MA
Where do you attend school?
I graduated last June from Carleton College in Northfield, MN where I majored in History and minored in Archaeology. My history major focused on United States history, but I also took a lot of classes in ancient and medieval history, in part to complete my archaeology minor.
What are your career or educational goals?
I am interested in the way the park service straddles a lot of my current career interests: museum studies, historical and archaeological work, and outdoor education, public engagement, and cultural resource management. I am interested in creating interpretative and educational work that is accessible and engaging. I would like to continue to explore these different paths and where they intersect as I move forward.
Outside of school and work what are your hobbies and/or interests?
I enjoy being outside as much as possible hiking, biking, or swimming. I also really enjoy crafting projects like sewing, knitting or other things that involve making things like baking. If I am vacationing or have the time I do enjoy bringing my friends and family to historical sites and museums.
What is your internship project focus? Explain what you will be doing, which parks/partners will you be working with? Who is your mentor at OCLP?
I am working with Eliot Foulds on putting together and finishing a Cultural Landscape Report for Liberty Island, Statue of Liberty National Monument. I will be working with previously created reports and research as well as Liberty Island staff to write a chronological history of the site that includes a current description and some analysis of the site. This document will end up informing future treatment of the park.
Why did you choose to participate in a Designing the Parks Internship? How is your internship hosted? (Examples include: LIHP, ACE, HBCUI, Mosaics in Science, etc)
I found the Designing the Parks internship through the National Council for Preservation Education’s internship program. I was interested in learning more about working with parks and the historical work that goes into conserving and maintaining cultural and historic sites. I enjoy the chance to help provide a historical resource to the wider public for years to come.
What are you looking forward to learning or exploring during your internship?
Already this internship has opened my eyes to the world of Landscape Architecture and all the planning that goes into making public spaces work. I am excited to explore this through the lens of history and archaeology. Olmsted Center seems in some ways to work with the nexus of these fields and I am interested in learning about how the different disciplines can feed into, broaden and facilitate each other. Good historical work and interpretation, I am beginning to see, will only get you so far if parks are not designed and maintained in a smart, welcoming, logistical way to help them exist into the future.
What types of opportunities will Designing the Parks provide you with?
This internship gives me a chance to work on a historical research report that will be used by others. The Cultural Landscape Report I will be working on has the specific intended use to help National Park Service staff to understand and care for a site. This gives me a chance to practice creating a useful, clear document that follows specific guidelines of style and research standards.
I am also interested in using this chance to explore the many branches of the National Park Service, especially those that work with cultural resource management and the preservation and interpretation of historic sites. I plan to learn about the offices and parks and how they work together to make the North East Region operate.
Designing the Parks 