About Me
Hi! My name is Whitney, I’m a member of the Bowdoin class of 2027, and I served as the Education Intern at the BCMA this summer (2025). Growing up in New York City, I was lucky enough to visit museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the American Museum of Natural History, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, and countless others. Those early experiences helped foster an interest in museums that continues to this day.
When applying to colleges, I was drawn to Bowdoin for many reasons, with the BCMA and the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum as major “pros” on my list! Since the fall of my freshman year, I’ve had incredible opportunities to visit both museums with different classes. I have closely observed ancient Roman coins in Roman Archaeology, French Gothic sculptural ornaments in Temple and Tomb: Sacred Architecture of the Ancient and Medieval Eras, and an Inuit antler carving of an ice worm with Nailed It! Investigating Ancient Technologies. This past spring, I took Professor Stephen Perkinson’s Critical Museum Studies course, which taught me to view museums through a new lens and inspired me to apply for a summer position at the BCMA.
As a sociology major and art history minor, I feel that the role of Education Intern combined my academic interests well. I enjoy conducting interviews for sociological research, and I conceived of Between the Lions to continue honing that skill. I had a wonderful time speaking with Paulla Estes, Toni Kemmerle, Jonathan Pessant, Tom Mullin, Tom Rehn, and Dan Dowd, and I cannot thank them enough for their participation in this project.
I’m very grateful for the opportunity to have worked at the BCMA these past few months and to have gotten to know the lovely team of individuals who work here, especially the other summer interns: Edwin, Cam, Mya, and Taylor. Regardless of where my professional journey takes me, I will always treasure this fi rst experience working in the museum world.
If you have any feedback for me about this project or questions about my experience at the BCMA (or as a Bowdoin student in general), feel free to reach out to me at wpellegrino@bowdoin.edu. I would love to hear from you!