BLACK WORLD HISTORY MUSEUM:
HIGH SCHOOL SUMMER INTERN PROGRAM

For Lois Conley of the Black World History Museum, the training of interns is a fundamental part of the museum's mission and role in its community. In fact, as Lois Conley noted in her original proposal, the museum was already beginning to operate an intern program "which expose[d] youth from City and County schools to the many...aspects of operating a cultural institution." Therefore, it made sense for the museum to seek out its interns within links it had already established with surrounding St. Louis Public Schools. In other words, the contacts already in place facilitated the museum's transition into the model project intern program-and, with the funds from the grant, Ms. Conley could offer students a structured opportunity for training and community involvement.

The students targeted for the intern project were part of the larger audience whom the museum strives to involve in its programs. In choosing the interns for the project, Lois Conley first advertised in youth organizations, churches, and by word of mouth. Once she had a pool of applicants at her disposal, she created a screening process in order to narrow the pool down to the ten most committed and capable interns. As Ms. Conley stated, she had learned from experience that "unless students were interested and had basic academic skills, they weren't going to [succeed in the program]." Each potential intern was asked to: 1) interview for the position; 2) write a narrative about himself; and 3) complete a mini-quiz. By evaluating the applicants throughout this process, the museum staff were able to: assess the applicant's interest; obtain a representative sample of the applicant's writing skills; and appraise the applicant's basic skills to insure that they were at an acceptable level.

Once the interns were on board, the museum put in place a rigorous schedule for the interns to follow. The students were expected to be at the museum during its hours of operation Wednesday through Saturday and were given a wide array of projects and tasks to complete. In addition to being trained as docents, greeters, and gift shop attendants, the students were taught various methods of conducting historical research, genealogical research, exhibition mounting, and oral interviews. Students participated in programs both on and off-site and were trained by a number of experts including James Vincent, a local historian and attorney, John Whitfield, an expert in African historical and genealogical research, and Executive Director Conley. Although the interns' projects were in some ways individualized and fluid, since much of their research was based on their own families and interests, the main projects for the exhibits did have established deadlines. A timeline with deadlines and a progress chart were mounted on a wall "like a growth chart"; the museum would fill in the progress chart and "grade" each student when he or she completed a certain aspect of his or her project.

The Black World History Museum adopted a dual approach of "giving [the interns] responsibility and a foundation" on which to build. Each activity was "preclude[d] by an academic session" on that particular topic, but the students were responsible for taking good notes and participating fully during that session. As Ms. Conley stated, she wanted to give the students critical thinking skills. As the students acquired these skills, museum staff could "push them and be open" while still "show[ing] them the right way." At the same time, Ms. Conley was committed to giving the students enough responsibility that they could be held accountable for their work by herself and by other members of the intern team. As she stated, "You've just got to let them do it; they have to make mistakes." In this way, the museum found that the students "began to gel" and ultimately encouraged each other in their work and "[took] the project seriously."

Overall, then, Ms. Conley counted the intern project as a success despite the fact that she experienced some difficulty initially recruiting and retaining the interns. For example, as Ms. Conley reported, "because of staggered school schedules and extended school for some students, the project really was not in full swing until mid-July when all interns were on board." This posed programmatic challenges as the museums and interns tried to accomplish a great deal of work and skill development in a relatively short period of time. In addition, a few of the students had left before the completion of the project, which increased the work load for the remaining interns and the staff.

In all, however, the interns and staff were able to overcome these challenges. The fashion show and student exhibit opening were completed on schedule and within the grant period. Additionally, the students who did remain in the program through its completion "performed well" and compiled a report on their intern project. In this report and in the exit interviews which Executive Director Conley conducted, the students who saw the project to completion were overwhelmingly positive in their evaluation of the internship. Not only were the students favorable in their assessment of the project, some of the students decided to pursue skills introduced to them over the internship period. One such student, for example, enrolled in a genealogy class in her high school as a direct result of the genealogical work done with the Black World History Museum.