Now that my summer internship at the Vinton History Museum has come to an end, it feels bittersweet. I originally hopped on the chance of doing the internship so I would have one less class to take this upcoming school year. But the opportunity that started out as a way to elude another class turned into something much more valuable to me, both personally and professionally. The workers and volunteers I had the chance to work with were amazing at sharing their love for history and the experience they had with working at the Vinton History Museum. I was surprised at how much I could learn in such a short amount of time. At my time at the Vinton History Museum, I learned how important effective communication is, how to work with a different generation other than my own, did research, changed displays, learned how to give tours (gave a lot of them too), set up an online auction and helped brainstorm new ideas to vamp up the museum. My largest challenge throughout my internship was trying to teach Judy ( who is in charge of my internship, works for the Vinton History Museum and is old enough to be my grandmother ) how to use Instagram ( vintonhistorymuseum ) and Twitter to try to target a different, slightly younger group of people and advertise the museum. Although my internship has ended, I will never forget the skills it taught me and the new friendships I had the chance to make.
