This summer, Teddy Campbell ’20, Zhelun Zhou ‘20 and Marisa Modugno ‘22 worked with local museums and cultural institutions in Upstate New York as a part of the Upstate Institute Summer Field School. While the organizations hosting them were quite different, all three were working on projects that considered the museum visitor experience in the time of COVID-19. Below, they describe their experiences.
This summer, we worked remotely with our community partners, communicating with our supervisors through Zoom and email, as we were unable to visit the places that we were working for due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This posed some unique challenges. It was difficult to form the connection with the community that we otherwise would have if we were immersed in the workspace. This meant some of our projects had to be adjusted so that they could be completed without ever visiting.
A typical liberal arts curriculum gives students ways to understand the world around them. But a liberal arts education rarely gives students the opportunity to engage with the world that they are trying to understand. Being a Field School Fellow is an excellent way for students to apply the skills they have acquired through a liberal arts education in the real world. At the same time, working on community-based research helps students apply their research skills and build connections with the nonprofit community, in which the two establish mutual respect and trust.