My expectations are not what they were when I started the internship or signed up for the certificate program. I knew I wanted to work in museums when I entered the program. I always loved them when I was younger, and I still do, so I knew that was what I was going to work towards. What I wanted to do in that career field was hazy. Before I switched degrees, I was working towards a degree in early childhood education, which made me think I could become an educator, even in a different setting. This is what I initially told my mentor that I was looking for in a future career. However, that was not the only career path I was interested in. After taking museum studies with Dr. Crew, I became interested in something similar but different from educating. I had so much fun coming up with my own exhibit and learning about the process that came with it. This led me to think about exhibit building as a future career. I was still interested in education, but being an exhibit builder would still be educating. I also kept the processes I loved from my history classes, like researching. However, my expectations changed once I started my internship, and I am now halfway through.

When I started at the National Collection Program, as I said in other blog posts, I was unsure if I would enjoy it. I wanted to either work in education or exhibit building. Besides the collections that would be in the exhibit, collections were not something I thought about. However, that feeling has changed now that I am halfway through the internship. While I was unsure about it when I first started, I loved working with the National Collection Program, which included learning about the collections. This change has led me to rethink what a future career in museums could look like. Lately, I have been interested in collections, particularly archives. While I knew that museums have much more in storage and archives than what is on display, I never really considered that as a potential avenue for me. In fact, last week, I told my mentor that I was interested in learning more about the archives and the work that goes into caring for them. She set me up with some contacts from across the Smithsonian, and they have all invited me to come in and tour the facilities and learn about the career. This vastly differs from what I initially thought my future could look like. I cannot wait to see what my expectations for this career field look like at the end of my internship.