My name is Lauren Gaines, and I am a rising senior from Baton Rouge, LA studying Communications and Political Science here at Tulane. On campus, I serve as the Executive Vice President of the Undergraduate Student Government, Leadership Intern for the Office of New Student & Leadership Programs, and the Resident Advisor for Newcomb’s Residential Learning Community, Spark.
This summer, I have the incredible opportunity to intern with the Office of Special Events at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in Washington, D.C. It is the sixth-oldest Smithsonian building on the National Mall in Washington D.C., is a National Historic Landmark, houses 1.8 million objects and 3 shelf-miles of archives, and since its opening, more than 4 million visitors have explored the museum in person and millions more have done so through its online programs. As Special Events Intern, I will be responsible for coordinating receptions, dinner, conferences, and donation ceremonies at the museum and mamboing the museum-wide special events and conference calendar.
As a long time supporter and visitor of the Museum and a student whose career goal is to serve as a Communications Director within the Smithsonian Institute, I am grateful for the opportunities here at Tulane that have allowed me to find my passions for Communications and event planning, and I am certain that the Special Events internship will allow me to use the lessons I have learned and will learn along the way to best serve the National Museum of American History, the Smithsonian Institute as a whole, and the families, students, scholars, and visitors that the Institute continues to engage and educate time and time again.
This summer will be full of exciting challenges and lessons, and I am eagerly looking forward to them all. During this internship, I would like to acquire hands-on experience interacting with personnel in the different Smithsonian museums, corresponding with clients, and managing vendors and other outside group and businesses that we will be working with. Also, I would like to learn more about new and amended AP writing guidelines as a means of improving my writing if possible.
The Office of Special Events will be responsible for interacting with and aiding many different clients this summer, so I hope to improve my skills of communicating effectively and promptly in high-stress and/or time-sensitive situations. When it comes to public relations and event planning, I understand that usually, everything that can go wrong, will go wrong. I would like to learn how to handle unforeseen issues with logistics, people, and circumstances beyond control in an office and museum setting.
Both being able to properly plan ahead and act in the moment are skills I would love to develop. Lastly, I would like more experience balancing several projects at once. I anticipate that entering the workforce, I will have to manage several tasks at once and I see this summer as a fantastic opportunity to gain experience doing so.
Newcomb College Institute’s mission is to educate undergraduates for women’s leadership, and it is an extremely exciting and important time in the history of the National Museum of American History, which has just appointed the first woman Director, Anthea M. Hartig, Ph.D. I am most excited about witnessing her leadership firsthand and working with the Special Events Office, which is completely headed and staffed by women.
This poses an incredible opportunity because the women I would be around have managed to achieve this longstanding dream of mine, and I would get the chance to not only ask them how they did so, but also I would get take the first steps towards achieving that goal myself. My new boss has informed me that we actually have my first event of the summer on my first day at the museum, so I am ready to jump and get started. This summer will be amazing, and I am so pumped to get the ball rolling!