Saturday, August 12, 2023
By:
I suppose, for the last week's blog, that History is—again, as it's seemed to be all summer—a fitting categorization. Who would have thought that an organizational system designed for books would slot into my summer so neatly?
Working with AIP's Center for History of Physics and Niels Bohr Library and Archives filled my summer with historical physics in a way I'd never experienced before, and I count myself exceptionally lucky to get
I'm writing this blog from my home near Indian Rocks Beach, Florida, some 900 miles displaced from the dorms at GW. Our final presentations finished last week, and we've been moved out and scattered back to the winds for about a week now. We were told to write the last blog when we were home and settled (when the internship was "over"), and for me, I still don't quite feel like it's all over.
Thanks to my mentors at CHP and NBLA, I have writing pieces left to edit and create, still. In a comforting way, it's staving off the transition out of AIP just a little longer, and letting me keep doing the work that I've enjoyed so much all summer. Though I'll miss my intern cohort, the folks at CHP/NBLA, and much of D.C., I think it's better to focus on just a few of the things I learned.
1. Don't be afraid to ask for help. Especially when you're doing something new, the only way to learn how to do it right is to ask for help from someone who's done it before.
2. Think outside the box. Even if it's a box you made up for yourself, if you can dream it, you can do it. I tackled a lot more work than I was expecting to be able to, in no small part thanks to my mentors' encouragement and help, but in another not-so-small part thanks to my own commitment to doing new things.
3. Try new things. This sounds like a cliché, and it honestly is, but so much of my time in D.C. was built around breaking out of routine. It's something that's going to stick with me back in Florida and when I return to Rochester this fall—sometimes, the best thing you can do is get out there and see what's in the world.
This has been an unforgettable summer, and I'm hugely grateful to AIP, SPS, and all of the other interns and people that supported this summer being what it was. Find my work in CHP's Teaching Guides and in NBLA's blog, Ex Libris Universum—some already posting, and some still to come!
MJ Keller