One of the things I really appreciate about being at Wellesley over the summer is our proximity to Boston, whenever I get bored or want to go on an adventure I know the city is only a train ride away. I’m especially grateful for this because last summer I was in a small town in the Berkshires with no car and limited wifi. I was working at a historic Shaker village as the Events & Communications Intern and living onsite with six other interns. Coming from New York City, I really enjoyed this change of pace and being able to live on a farm with sheep, goats, cows, and barn cats ♥️
As the only intern without a car, I relied on the other interns to drive me around or go grocery shopping. Thankfully, the other interns wanted to go out and explore as much as I did, and we went on trips to Edith Wharton’s home in Lenox, to Salem and Vermont. Our lovely program director, Cindy, took us on field trips to multiple Shaker villages nearby, and to Williams College, where we got to weed with some of the interns at their environmental center.
Barbie!
One project I had been working on all summer was acquiring pony rides for our Country Fair in the fall. I had been cold emailing vendors all summer, and the last week of my internship I found out that we got ponies! To celebrate, we named a sheep after me (and she is now pregnant!). This internship taught me so much about the shakers, the nonprofit world and the museum industry, but I also got to practice cooking for myself, working full time, and networking. In the fall, I got to present about this internship at Tanner, one of our research conferences.
Tanner!
Lara the sheep ♥️