This past summer, Robert “Ellis” Cochran proved that perseverance pays off. After applying three times to the Smithsonian Museum the previous summer, he was finally selected to intern in Washington, D.C., at the National Museum of National History, one position of just eighteen at the prestigious institute and selected from a pool of more than six hundred. Communication professor and one of Ellis’s mentors through the SOU McNair Program, Alena Ruggerio, also commented that “He was perfect for the Smithsonian opportunity because the internship combined his personal passion with his academic training,” since the museum wanted candidates without extensive research experience but still enough to conduct their own projects. His unique opportunity to research how orientation signs affect how much people learn in exhibits allowed him important firsthand experience that reinforced his post-graduation aspiration to get his PhD in rhetoric so he can study the rhetoric and resulting impact of signs in museums and zoos. Ellis also commented that he felt like he was “going to join the Hall of Fame” because the poster resulting from his work will appear in the Smithsonian intern archive.
Interning at the Smithsonian Museum
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