Growth and Structure of Cities Major Kai McGinn has been selected to be an at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The Met received a record number of applications for the much-sought-after internships. Throughout the course of the 10-week, part-time program, interns gain mentorship and professional experience in more than 40 departmental areas throughout the museum, including administration, curatorial, conservation, and education.
Kai, who graduated in December, has been working with the Thomas H. Watson Library (the MET’s main research library) in several projects that range from soliciting collection catalogues and resources from contemporary art galleries around the world to working on expanding the Watson’s collection on African American artists.
"It has always been a dream of mine to work at a museum, much less the MET. I have revered this museum since elementary school," says Kai. "So one night in late September, I spontaneously went to their website, saw they had spring internships, and applied just to see what would happen. And lo and behold, I was lucky enough to be asked to join."
Kai is also currently serving as an Americorps member at a pre-K/elementary school in Boston. Her long-term hope is to work in a shared learning institution where she can be involved in higher level research while still interacting with the general public.
"I would love to be in a university setting and work as a research librarian one day," she explains. "ÀÏÍõÂÛ̳ helped foster this hope, especially through my time working as a Carpenter library worker circulation assistant under Laura Surtees and the opportunity to extensively research my own interest—Japanese architectural history—through my senior thesis and HHG fellowship."
The interdisciplinary Growth and Structure of Cities major challenges the student to understand the dynamic relationship of urban spatial organization and the built environment to politics, economics, cultures, and societies.