Maggie Hermanson’s adventures on Mackinac Island
RCAH senior Maggie Hermanson spent her summer on Mackinac Island, and we’re grateful to have such a thorough and thought-provoking reflection about her time there on this first day of fall. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and gorgeous photos with us, Maggie!
For these past three months, I spent my time on Mackinac Island. I worked for the Mackinac State Historic Parks (an underling of the Department of Natural Resources) as, primarily, an Art Studio Intern. This experience was very good, and has been further explained in other blog posts found here. But what I did not intend to happen was that I found other experiences in working for other positions within the parks that were immensely more towards my taste and style.
Before I begin, I’d like to preface that if you find an internship – or even a job – that you believe you might be interested in taking it, it is okay to not like it. It’s fine to change your mind and it’s fine to misinterpret your passion.
What’s not fine is living in a rut while you’re doing it. It’s a mistake I made during the first couple of weeks I was working for the Parks. I had only the Art Studio Intern position, and it was difficult for me to accept that I wasn’t passionate about it. Part of me tried to force myself to like it; after all, I’m on an island equivalent to 3.5 square miles, so where else was I to go? After that didn’t work, I detested my job. Hated it. Partially because I tried to force myself into liking it, which is exactly the wrong thing to do. And partially because I was realizing that I actually did not like it. I wasn’t as passionate about art education as I thought I was. This really disturbed me and made me feel defeated, because one of the main aspects of being an RCAH student is being driven, passionate, and inspirational.
But if I didn’t know what my passion was – if I couldn’t even do something that I was passionate about weeks ago without wanting to cringe – then what kind of RCAH student was I?
I WAS A NORMAL HUMAN BEING.
That’s right, kids: changing your mind, or changing your passion, IS TOTALLY OKAY. Just don’t get stuck in it, okay?
So instead, I decided to explore other opportunities that the Parks offered. One of the posit ions that I held was being a GSR (Guest Service Representative), which technically was a paying position that I applied for before having gone to Mackinac. It was a very informative position in that it helped me to understand how revenue and sales worked for a museum. There were multiple locations for GSRs to be located, and at each of those locations there were different tasks to be done. For instance, there were two different locations on the island where souvenirs would be sold. One of those places was the Visitor’s Center, and the other was the Sutler’s Store up in Fort Mackinac. In each of those places, there would be different visitor needs. In the Visitor’s Center, people needed directions to different places on the island, whereas in the Sutler’s Store, people needed directions to different parts of the Fort. This experience really helped me to understand the different parts of visitor experience – what visitors need, how to answer their questions effectively, etc.
I was also a Historic House Interpreter, where I wore authentic 1820s and 1830s clothing and did tasks like sewing and quilting to demonstrate different skill sets that people would have. This afforded me the opportunity to be able to start conversations with visitors that helped them learn and connect with the history around them. During this volunteer time, I learned so much about what interpreting was (not translating languages) and how important a position it is to the Parks. In fact, I liked doing this so much that I’m planning on going back next summer to do just this!
So all in all, it was one of the best summers of my life. I learned so much about museums and museum work, but also in being passionate and human. 10 out of 10 – would recommend to a friend.
