WEBVTT

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Thank you, Eleanor, for
those lovely remarks.

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For those of you
who don't know, I

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am a senior named
Courtney Kaufman,

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and I am a computer science
and art history double major.

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This summer through
my funding, I

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had the opportunity to
do several internships,

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and the two I'm going
to highlight today

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are in the work search
I did with the Skinner

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Museum of Museum History as well
as working with the New York

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City Urban Debate League
as a debate coach.

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So for those of
you who don't know,

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this is the Skinner Museum.

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Who here has been to
the Skinner Museum?

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Let's see a show of hands.

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Anyone who is not
raising their hands

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should be very
ashamed of themselves.

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[LAUGHTER]

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The Skinner Museum is an
excellent resource located just

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off Mount Holyoke's campus.

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And I first encountered it
in my first year seminar,

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where I met Aaron Miller,
who I now intern with.

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And when I first went into
the museum, I was shocked.

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It looked something like this.

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This does not look like
a traditional museum.

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It's not very organized,
to say the least.

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It resembles more of my
dorm room than something

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of [INAUDIBLE].

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And through my years
of working with Aaron

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and interning at
the museum, I sort

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of wondered what
was it about walking

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into a collection like
this versus walking

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into a different museum that
makes you feel sort of wonder

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and curiosity?

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And how does that relate to
museum history in general?

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My research focused on
16th and 17th century

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cabinets of wonder.

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For those of you who
don't know what these are,

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which is probably
everyone in the room--

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I sure didn't know
what they were either--

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people at research
institutions, aristocrats

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at this period in history, would
open up rooms of their homes

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or their university to gather
treasures from around the world

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to bring to people who would not
get access to them otherwise.

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And this formed a sort
of unique knowledge base.

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The idea was that you
could have a room that was

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a microcosm of the universe.

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You would have natural history.

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You would have art pieces.

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You would have curiosities
like unicorn horns--

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because everyone
knows unicorns exist.

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And what my research
was looking at

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is how does a museum like
Skinner in the 21st century

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fit into this paradigm
of a collection

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where you come with no
knowledge and you come out

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feeling a sense of
wonder and curiosity

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and where that continues.

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So I spent a lot of time
at the New York Public

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Library looking at primary and
secondary source documents.

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I also spent a few
weeks at Skinner

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examining particular artifacts
that sparked my interest

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and I found very odd.

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My favorite artifact
to talk about

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is there is a gold
bust of Mark Twain.

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I don't know why it's there.

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It's like a paperweight.

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But it's the weirdest
thing I've ever seen.

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Definitely did not
expect that in a museum.

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But what I found
in my research is

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that in the 16th
and 17th century,

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you have a lot of aristocrats
doing the collection.

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You would have it at large
research institutions.

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Then by the 18th
century, I started

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looking at France in particular
and the sort of connections

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that people would make in
their networks as collectors.

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And what was more emphasized is
the interpersonal connections

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you got from these
artifacts and the sharing

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of the collections themselves.

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In the 19th century,
interestingly enough,

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you had the iterations of
how museums appear now.

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A particular example I looked
at was the British Museum,

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where the British Museum
originated from one gentleman's

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collection and turned into
the museum it is today.

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And then you have the
museums you have now.

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So that was one
part of my summer.

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At night, I would teach SAT prep
to rising high school seniors.

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That's the math tutoring aspect.

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I also taught
verbal and writing.

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And my students
got to take the SAT

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for the second
time in September,

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and they all told me that
their scores improved.

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So that made me feel really
warm and fuzzy inside.

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But another really
important part

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of my summer that I'd
love to share with you

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is the work I got to do with
the New York City Urban Debate

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League.

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I am a former high school
debater and a current college

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debater, and giving back as
a debate coach and judge is

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the most wonderful
thing I've probably

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ever done through my
volunteer experience.

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The New York City
Urban Debate League

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is a not-for-profit
organization that

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was founded in 2011, whose
mission is to bring debate

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to deserving but underprivileged
elementary, middle school,

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and high school students
in New York City.

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What skills does
debate teach you?

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It teaches you speaking,
arguing, and writing, things

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that students can
learn in classrooms,

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but don't always get
the opportunity to,

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especially when you
look at New York

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City where you have a lot of
problems with overcrowding.

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And this gives students
the individual opportunity

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to shine and to become better
speakers, arguers, and writers.

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Definitely skills I
learned at Mount Holyoke.

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One of the most
rewarding programs

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I worked with this summer was
with the Bella Abzug Leadership

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Institute at Hunter
College in New York City.

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The Bella Abzug
Leadership Institute

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was inspired by Bella Abzug,
who was a New York state

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congressman from the
1970s and who was

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a champion of women's rights.

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Her organization brings
leadership to young women

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in high school, some in college.

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And as their debate
trainer, I got

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to empower them to
become great leaders

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and inspirational young women.

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Might have even inspired a few
to apply to Mount Holyoke, so,

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you know, keeping it going.

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So you're probably
wondering, how do I

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find such awesome internships?

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How did you do it?

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I used the resources around me.

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I went to my professors.

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I said, can I do
research with you?

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I looked to
experiences in my life.

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I love debate.

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I found an organization
that was doing cool stuff.

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So find opportunities
around you.

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Reach out.

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Talk to people who took College
211 with the lovely Eleanor

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Townsley.

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We can tell you all about
the great things we've found.

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Start with what
you love even if it

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doesn't relate to your major.

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Yes, I am an art history
major, but I am also

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a computer science major.

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And debate doesn't directly
relate to either of those,

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but it is something that I love.

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So don't feel that you need to
be limited to exactly what is

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in your major.

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Try something new.

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I never taught SAT prep before.

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It was a lot of fun.

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LyonNet is an
excellent resource.

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(WHISPERING) But
I didn't use it.

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[LAUGHTER]

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Shh.

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Know one more thing.

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You can do more than one
thing with your summer.

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A lot of people will tell
you, oh, I did this one thing,

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and I spent all this time on it.

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And it was great, and
I was obsessed with it.

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But let me tell you, if you
have a lot of interests,

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like everyone on
this panel, you'll

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see that we all
did multiple things

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and that is perfectly all right.

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And finally, if you're
around on Sunday afternoon

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and you found this
talk informative

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and would like to learn more
about the Skinner Museum,

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I will be speaking
with Phoebe Cos

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at 1 PM at the Skinner Museum.

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It's pretty easy to get to.

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It's kind of like you go
past the soccer fields

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and you walk for a mile.

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And then if you walk too
far, you end up in Amherst.

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[LAUGHTER]

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One more thing I just want
to say is try something new

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and see where it takes you.

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One of the best
parts of my summer

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is I got to try so many
new and cool things

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and have so many
great experiences.

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So don't be afraid
to try something new.

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Go out and find an internship.

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Thank you very much.

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[APPLAUSE]