Student Carissa Kepner at Angel Mounds

Interning at Angel Mounds during the spring semester and in summer 2012 has been one of my most enjoyable college experiences so far. I have had many opportunities to solve problems and be creative and inventive, and I have really enjoyed getting to know the Angel Mounds staff.

Carissa stands next to a seed sorter at the spring Farm Fest event at Angel Mounds.

The first thing to know is that Angel Mounds isn’t a big museum, and you shouldn’t go into an internship at this site thinking that you’re going to be handling and cataloguing a lot of artifacts. In fact, most of what the interns do is interact with the public and help plan and run events. I have developed my people skills and improved my public speaking skills at Angel Mounds by giving presentations to visitors and helping out with off-site presentations in the community. I am very proud of my ability to talk to people on the phone, as when I started I was terrible at it and now I can talk smoothly and professionally. This summer I have been planning, setting up, and running events for the four themed day camps organized by Angel Mounds. I was even allowed to plan one entire day of camp with help from the staff. There is a lot of give and take between the interns and the staff that makes Angel Mounds feel like a family. There is a lot of trust that develops between the staff and their interns, and the staff members really made me feel like my work was contributing to the good of the site.

I helped kids build this boat for Angel Mounds Extreme Egypt camp and we all got to try it out.

I learned a lot from my time there, not only about the history of the site and Mississippian culture, but also about all of the different kinds of work that go into running a museum. Although the internship is unpaid, it is well worth your time, especially during the summer when you keep constantly busy. If you are willing to learn and work hard, you will have a lot of fun.