A little about me!

I grew up in Sussex County, New Jersey. While "New Jersey" often evokes images of Tony Soprano, boardwalks on the Shore, and the Turnpike traffic, Sussex County spurns all of those stereotypes. It teems with natural beauty. Growing up in New Jersey's little slice of Appalachia gave me a deep appreciation for nature and the natural world. Sussex County also has a long history of mining, and on trips in school and with the Cub Scouts I visited both the Franklin Mineral Museum and the Sterling Hill Mine. Those were my first museums, and probably my first exposure to history, a field I continued to study through high school and into university.

When I attended The College of New Jersey for my undergraduate degree, I initially wanted to be a high school history teacher. But I felt the allure of an academic career and began to pivot away from secondary education. At the same time, an insatiable wanderlust compelled me to travel. Within four years, I had transitioned from never leaving the United States to seeing Rome, New Orleans, Peru, and Spain. In the last of those countries, I spent two years working as an English Language Assistant in a secondary school in Alcalá de Henares, a city not far from Madrid. That experience reignited my love of education. But spending time in some of Europe's best museums--The Museo del Prado, the Reina Sofia, the Guggenheim Bilbao, the Alhambra--steered me towards museum work. 

As I've continued my education at the University of Delaware, I've worked as a volunteer processor at a Wilmington high school, as a summer intern at a historic house museum in Maine, and as a Graduate Assistant with the Delaware Historical Society. These experiences have made me a great asset for an archive, museum, or other public history institution.

In museum work I wed my two greatest passions: history and community service. I believe strongly in history's power to bring about change, and museums often sit at the boundary between the Academy and the general public. If public history institutions forge stronger connections with all of the communities they service, we can transform the museum into a collaborative learning center. And we can ensure that everyone gets the opportunity to share their voice.