This past summer I completed my STEP Signature Project as a Content Development Intern at the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream (MCAAD) in Washington, D.C. MCAAD is a museum opening its doors in the Spring of 2025, and I was part of the Content Development Team, which consists of those creating and curating the content as well as collections and digital projects, as this museum will greatly utilize interactive technology. While at MCAAD, I worked with various members of the Content Team to produce content that will used throughout the museum, especially on the lower and entrance levels.

Before this summer in D.C., I had never lived outside of Ohio for any extended period of time. I was born and raised in Stow, Ohio, just north of Akron, and then came to Columbus to attend Ohio State. My world view was greatly shaped by my life in Ohio. In D.C., I was exposed to an entire new city, lifestyle, and population of people. I learned what it was like to work and live in a big city. This internship was set up as a nine to five job five days a week, which was something entirely new. This was the first time that I felt like I was really exposed to what life in my career field would look like after college, and I am grateful that I got to use this small window of eight week to learn how to adjust, live, and work in a new place.

I also learned a lot about myself this summer in D.C. I moved to a place where I knew no one and had signed up to live with roommates I had never met or had the chance to interact with before we all arrive at our apartment. I learned to be independent, and I grew much more comfortable with my own presence. I did many things with my new roommates, who I got along with quite well, but I also explored the city alone. I visited many museums and memorials, the Library of Congress, and the Capitol on my own, and I greatly enjoyed these experiences even though I was doing them alone. This summer was a huge time for my own personal growth as well as professional growth.

My interactions with both the Content Team at MCAAD and my roommates were the most influential during my STEP Signature Project this summer. At MCAAD, I was welcomed into a small group of people with various backgrounds all coming together to produce content for an exciting new museum. I got to know some amazing people at MCAAD, and I hope to keep these connections for a long time. I learned very much about my desired career path and my view of the museum world expanded greatly though my exposure to the work of the Content Team at MCAAD. Additionally, my roommates this summer all came from different backgrounds. One of the girls was from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, another from Oxford, Mississippi, and the third form Seattle, Washington. I really enjoyed getting to know them, and this was the first time that I lived with people from places so different from where I am from. I will definitely keep in touch with them.

This summer at MCAAD in Washington D.C. was very helpful for my personal and professional development. I hope to move to a city after college, so this was a great experience for me to learn to adjust to living and working in a city. I got to explore Washington D.C. by myself, with my roommates, and with my friends who came to visit while I was living there. As I come closer to the end of my time in college, it is necessary for me to grow and experience the real world in a new city on my own. Professionally, this summer at MCAAD was my first paid museum internship experience. The past two summers, I had unpaid museum internships that I had close to home, and I learned a great deal from these places, but this summer in D.C., I was able to spend all my time dedicated to the work I was doing at MCAAD. I got to see much of the behind the scenes and story building process of the museum content. I was a part of collections and gained experience working on the collections database. I learned and got to meet various companies who work with museums focusing on digital projects. The technology that MCAAD will use is very modern and will be highly interactive. I am very grateful for the projects and work that I got to be a part of this summer, and I cannot wait to visit MCAAD when they finally open their doors to see the final project. My experience in D.C. this summer is something that I will value because it laid the foundation for me to live and work in a new city. I am now much more confident in my professional and personal abilities that will be necessary for me to succeed after graduating from college.