With support from dedicated donors and empowered by the Gettysburg Network, the Civil War Institute (CWI) offers students unique hands-on learning opportunities to gain deeper knowledge and highly valued enduring skills for personal and professional success. Entering her sophomore year at Gettysburg College, history major Devon Szczepkowicz ’27 can attest to the invaluable experience she gained this summer through a CWI internship at the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
“Before we went to our internships for the summer, the professors and staff at the Civil War Institute impressed upon us that this was an incredible opportunity to learn and to experience new things,” Szczepkowicz said. “I’ve gone to many optional meetings, formed connections with many colleagues, and attended multiple networking events. All of these steps have helped to make my internship successful and valuable.”
Eyeing a future career in the museum field, Szczepkowicz searched the long list of opportunities in CWI’s funded internship program, combing through locales such as Antietam, Mount Vernon, Little Bighorn, and Chickamauga. She desired an internship that would best fit her academic and professional goals and applied for a position at the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage.
This particular offering was a new addition to the internship program made possible through an alumni connection and support from Carolyn Kuhn Byron ’62 through the Myron I. Kuhn Endowed CWI Department Award Fund. Cliff Murphy ’94, who became the director of the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in 2023, collaborated with CWI administrators to launch the internship, which provides free-of-cost housing in Washington, D.C., as well as a $3,000 stipend through the Kuhn Endowed Fund.
“From his early days on the job, Cliff was a champion of creating a recurring summer position for a Gettysburg student, working internally with his staff to establish the parameters of the position and connecting us with staff members directly overseeing the museum’s internship program,” noted Prof. Jill Ogline Titus, associate director of CWI. “Carolyn’s visionary endowment of the Kuhn Fellowships makes possible several student internship opportunities in museums, historical organizations, and cultural institutions in Washington, D.C.”
Szczepkowicz’s internship directly supported this summer’s Smithsonian Folklife Festival on the National Mall, an annual event that honors contemporary living cultural traditions and celebrates those who practice and sustain them. This year’s theme was “Indigenous Voices of the Americas: Celebrating the National Museum of the American Indian.”
Szczepkowicz’s primary responsibilities were to create, develop, and manage activities for the Folklife Festival’s Family Activities Tent. She communicated with event staff and visitors, wrote a blog post, helped create interactive activities for children, and set up and took down festival structures as part of her role.
“The goal of the annual Folklife Festival is to connect people and build an understanding and appreciation of different cultures,” said the native of Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, and graduate of Wissahickon High School. “During participant performances is when you can feel this goal come to fruition. Watching singers, dancers, and storytellers perform on stage, I felt that I could emotionally connect with their stories. It was truly one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.”
While expanding her knowledge of the world around her, Szczepkowicz employed her enduring skills to complete her tasks in the weeks leading up to the event. She learned how to work collaboratively as a team to complete projects, and she maintained constant communication with her coworkers and supervisors as events unfolded. With plans constantly changing, including a tent participant being unable to attend, Szczepkowicz was ready to pivot and adapt, skills that keyed her success.
“The participants who were supposed to be in that tent were canoe builders, so our supervisor tasked us with creating a canoe-related activity for the tent,” Szczepkowicz said. “In those two weeks, my coworker and I brainstormed an activity, developed it, ordered the supplies, and practiced running it all while also handling our other tasks. This, along with other last-minute changes, taught me how to adapt to unexpected situations in quick and creative ways.”
Established in 2011, CWI’s internship program was the creation of former CWI director Peter S. Carmichael, Fluhrer Chair of Civil War Studies, who passed away unexpectedly this summer. Carmichael’s legacy and impact at Gettysburg College lives on through these donor-funded opportunities, which help students find their way in the professional world of public history and museum studies and empower them with the knowledge and enduring skills most valued by employers today.
“Providing hands-on learning opportunities for students lies at the heart of CWI’s mission,” Titus noted. “Our experiential programs equip students with the tools necessary to work on the frontlines of history and pursue professions that value communication, collaboration, and leadership.”
Szczepkowicz plans to explore more of these distinctive learning opportunities during her remaining time at Gettysburg College. She knows by doing so she is not only carving out a path for her academic and professional pursuits, but she is also sharpening tools to tackle the complex world around her and find professional success and personal fulfillment.
“Hands-on learning opportunities like this are extremely important because they introduce students to careers that they are interested in,” Szczepkowicz said. “They allow students to develop skills and knowledge that will be essential in their chosen field. Often, the skills and knowledge they learn are useful not only for specific careers, but for life in general.”
By Corey Jewart
Photos courtesy of Devon Szczepkowicz ’27
Posted: 08/16/24