Internship Overview

Fairfield foundation is non-profit organization that was founded in 2000 dedicated to involving the public in hands-on archeology, preservation and education within Virginia's Middle Peninsula and Surrounding areas.
They operate in five major locations in Glouster County: C.A.P.E (Center for Archeology, Preservation and Education), Rosewell Ruin and Visitor center, Timberneck House at Machicomoco, edge hill and walter reed birthplace. They have partnered with many other musuems in organizations inlcuding the National Park Service, Colonial Williamsburg, American Revolutionary musuem and waterman's musuem.
For my internship I worked as a research and technology intern. I was expected to figure out what I wanted topic or indivudal did I want to focus in and how I wanted it apply my major and minor for the internship. My specific person of focus was the famous African American Lawyer T.C Walker.
A Mellon Foundation award has been very beneficial for helping me with my internship and reaching my career goals.

Major Tasks and Projects

Story Map

Create a Story map using ArcGIS to look at the places that T.C Walker Visited. This would give an idea to historians and visistors on locations that T.C walker has made a major impact in glouster and an understanding of his early years

3D Scan and Modeling

I have been completing 3D scanning through drones and ipads to prepare to scan T.C. Walkers House so there can a model used for better interpretation. Helping me apply my engineering skills to historic preservation

Research

Another big part of my internship was completing additonal research on T.C walker to get a better sense of the locations that he his family and friends were in glouster. This inlcuded reading interviews, books, newspaper articles and visting sites. Ehancing my research skills

Additional Tasks

During my internship I have been exposed to more opportunities including archeological digging, historic presevation and education opportunties

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 4

One of my initial responsibilities involved assisting in the excavation of archaeological sites managed by the organization and cleaning the collected artifacts. This ensures that they can be utilized for documentation in reports and cataloging in their archaeological database.

For my second task, I shadowed a docent at one of the partner locations and assisted at the front desk. I also gained insight into the organization and its efforts in historic preservation within Gloucester County.

I cleaned the artifacts to ensure they are ready for bagging and tagging before the processing stage.

I scanned and model Walter Reeds birthplace to help prepare me for scanning T.C walkers home and later creating a 3D image for used for interpretation of sites.

Reflection
Of Internship
Experience

Career Exploration

During my internship experience, I was able to understand other facets that I can explore with my major in engineering and a minor in history. From what I learned from my mentors, who were in a technology major, I discovered that you can model historic buildings using CAD (Computer-Aided Design) software. I have been exposed to a multitude of other software systems that have similar uses to Computer-Aided Design. I have also seen what I can do if I expand my educational experiences, such as observing UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) being used to scan architecture and historic sites for interpretation, preservation, and education for both visitors and archaeologists.

Throughout this experience, I networked with other students who had similar studies in undergraduate programs but were in areas where they had not had much experience. One example was an intern from William and Mary who is using his background in history for the historic preservation of buildings through masonry work. I learned from this intern how bricks are meticulously placed in architecture to stabilize the structure and how the bricks are to match those used in a specific time period, combining architecture and historical research. During my experience, I also received from another intern who worked at the local museum in Gloucester I shared my experiences with her and we discussed our future plans, giving tips to one another. Additionally, had the chance to talk to volunteers and understand their roles at certain. One volunteer I resonated with had a STEM background, making particularly interesting to learn about their journey from a purely scientific field to working in the museum and archaeology industry.

One of biggest skills that I have gained in my experience as a humanities minor has been the ability to complete historic research. This helped me alot as I analzyed arhival documents, reading manuscripts and connecting the dots on certain locations to interpate on where the figures went and where they came from. From learning about history research being simialr to detective work I was able to see that being put in real time in Internship.

When going into the T.C walker mapping project. I saw all the expereices that I have gainec both as a engineering major and hitory mainor coming to play and even as a McNair scholar. From having the intro experience in modeling and geographic information systems really helped me in understanding the software better. Also as a McNair scholar my primary focus has been in research so gaining those foundational researhc experience and skills have been very benefcial.

During my internship at Fairfield, I learned the importance of meeting workplace expectations and maintaining a positive, eager attitude. This mindset fosters strong relationships with colleagues, supports an efficient work environment, and leaves a positive impression on employers, potentially leading to strong recommendations or future job opportunities within the organization. I also found that engaging with other staff members not only helped me build connections but also opened the door to learning about additional opportunities.

Final Thoughts

Overall this internship has helped me in using my critical thinking skills to adress challenges when working on my T.C Walker mapping project. One of the biggest challenges was finding locations he had intereacted with and had signifgance in glouster it was amazing getting to tour glouster to find these sites, work with a mutlitude of organizations to understand some of the places that I could not find and putting the pieces from multiple books and manuscripts so the public can get a better understanding of the historic figures story in Glouster county. I cannot wait to see where my work will go after my internship is completed.