Linda Garcia, our invaluable Site Manager, writes about the wonders of our summer interns:

We were contacted last winter by a 2nd year New College History student, Joy Feagan, to see if we would be interested in a summer intern. We had never had that opportunity in the past so we set up an interview and WOW – what a JOY!!!

New College students of history Melissa Rettig (left) and Joy Feagan (middle) interned at the Historical Society of Sarasota County in the summer of 2014, says Site Manager Linda Garcia (right).

She came to work with us every Wednesday from June 4 thru August 13. She was a pleasure to work with and brought along her fellow history major student, Melissa Rettig, who worked with us for five of those weeks. Their youth and enthusiasm was invigorating and they were very capable and willing to help with many projects.

Joy worked on an Asset Inventory project where she photographed all of the items in the buildings. Then she designed a worksheet with the photo, listing the location and the dimensions with a description and adding donation information as needed for each item. This is in the process of being printed now to keep as a permanent record. She also worked on the Ordinary Historians project doing the filming and editing for two of our historians this summer as well as a walking tour of our campus to add to our website. She has become a member of HSOSC and will continue to be a helpful asset for the Ordinary Historian project.

Melissa worked with Joy on the filming of the Ordinary Historians as well as sorting through several boxes of historical records and putting them into workable categories for our permanent records. She was also very helpful with the Google documentation for several grants we are working on for the fall.

We are very delighted to have worked with these exceptional young ladies and look forward to many more experiences with our “new” friends at New College.

P.S. From the webmaster: You don’t have to be a college student to help us in and around and for the Historical Society! Watch for our “Opportunity Buffet” listings as the weather gets cooler this fall… there are fun ways to use your talents and knowledge on a one-time or recurring basis, as suits your schedule and specific interests…. (PPS A cookie baker would not go amiss, speaking strictly for me…)