​JHU Seminar: 3/31/2017 Presentation Day! and Final Reflections

We did our final presentation was today and we feel it went really well!

I am so proud of our group. I have to say I feel this is the best group I have ever worked with and this is the best product of group work I feel I have ever been a part of.

I am so proud of the presentation that I am embedding it here:

What a whirlwind this seminar has been! But it also feel like a culmination of many things in many many ways.

My first job at the Smithsonian was at American Art, which started me on this museum path.

Going back felt like going full circle.

I volunteered at NMNH, it was actually in the Ocean Hall where I realized I wanted to make a career working in a place like this. We had a tour of the NMNH Ocean Hall as part of the seminar.

I worked as a Park Ranger at Fort Washington Park, in the shadow of Mount Vernon. Fort Washington, and the bright yellow Ranger Station was clearly visible from Mount Vernon.

I work at NMAH, and visiting as a student, and not a worker allowed me to consider other positions in the museum that I might want to move into from what I am currently doing.

Many of these places are where I “began” things that culminated in this program. I feels right that in finishing the program I return to many of these same locations.

But it should be noted, that though some things change some stay the same, I am chronically incapable of being on time (This is in part due to my ADHD, but it is something that I have always struggled with). The running joke of the seminar was that, whenever there was a head count I would always be 22 of 22, because I would saunter in last. I appreciated the good natured ribbing. And It seemed accepted by the group as one of my quirks. This actually made me very happy, as what is normally something that causes me great anxiety, became a friendly running joke. (Can I arrive so I am not 22? Sometimes yes! other times…nope.)   It was just another small reason why these two weeks have been so special.

These locations are all part of my own story, and as I continue to try and reinvent myself, I am excited to end this chapter of my life and with excited clear eyes ask:

What’s Next?