Over the past summer, two students from the University of Houston-Victoria not only worked inside a museum but also had the opportunity to put themselves right in the driver’s seat to experience history.

Abraham Taylor and Emilio Vargas, both history majors at UHV, spent the past several months as interns at Victoria College’s Museum of the Coastal Bend, providing them with hands-on experience and insights on the ins and outs of what goes on behind the scenes of a museum. Their experiences were made possible through grants from the O’Connor & Hewitt Foundation and the Trull Foundation.

Amy Hatmaker

“No matter what career goal a student has, experience is going to be key to their success. It helps with both post-graduate jobs and graduate school applications,” said Amy Hatmaker, director of the UHV Career Development Center. “However, many of our students have not had the opportunity to get experiences because these internships are often unpaid. We have very few students that can afford to work for free. The grant funding we receive makes sure that no student with an interest in the nonprofit or public sector is left out of opportunities due to pay.”

For Vargas, his deep passion for history stemmed from growing up in the small town of Goliad, surrounded by significant historical sites and landmarks. His love for history led him to seek out volunteer opportunities at the museum, which eventually led to a full-time internship position, he said.

Emilio Vargas

“I’ve always loved history,” Vargas said. “I got baptized in an 18th century church, so it has always been a part of my life. I had the opportunity to grow up with it, and in a way, I got really attached to it.”

As an education intern, Vargas has taken on a variety of responsibilities, including painting, building exhibits and cataloging artifacts. One of the most enjoyable aspects of the internship was making atlatls, a large throwing spear used by people in ancient times to hunt, he said. A target would be set on the museum’s front lawn, and guests would take turns to put the spear in the target as accurately as they can, he said.

Sue Prudhomme

“They are just extremely easy to work with; they’re eager to do anything we assign them, and their energy and enthusiasm have really helped to reinvigorate our staff,” said Sue Prudhomme, executive director for Victoria College’s Museum of the Coastal Bend. “Emilio and Abraham have been a huge asset to the museum.”

With an anticipated graduation date of December, Vargas said he has gained valuable insights during his time at UHV through his upper-level history courses. Vargas said his experience at the museum has broadened his perspective beyond just the facts of historical artifacts or events, but rather the interpretation and teaching of history is just as important as the facts.

“The big project we worked on over the summer is rebuilding an old library card catalog, turning it into a display where you pull out slots and there’s a small artifact inside with a description,” Vargas said. “It was a lot of painting, a lot of cataloging, a lot of reading but it’s all fun to me.”

The museum’s internship program, which began in the summer of 2020, typically hosts at least two students per semester from UHV and other grant-funded sources, Prudhomme said. Interns at the museum have worked on a variety of projects, such as creating a social media awareness campaign for upcoming exhibits and digitizing the museum’s collections, she said.

“At the Museum of the Coastal Bend we have a very small staff, but we have very large goals,” Prudhomme said. “And to accomplish these goals, we need help, and so interns can come to the museum and implement skills and knowledge that they learn in the classroom setting. They’re gaining experience, something to put on their resume while helping expand our exhibit, expand our preservation activities and increase our education offerings.”

Taylor, who is set to graduate next spring, began his internship at the museum as an exhibit and collections intern back in February. Over the course of the summer, he was tasked with conducting extensive research on different topics ranging from local ranching and farming to handling historical artifacts and missions in Texas.

Abraham Taylor

“It has been a fascinating experience as a history major,” Taylor said. “Even though I’m not majoring in something that has to do with museums necessarily, there’s still a lot of similarities between the two. The internship really gave me a deeper appreciation for preserving the past.”

Originally, Taylor said he was drawn to apply for the internship through a recommendation from Amy Hatmaker. Taylor said he was motivated to apply because he saw it as a good resume-building experience, and he was attracted to the opportunity to make connections and meet new people.

His internship experience at the Museum of the Coastal Bend has significantly shaped his perspective as a student, Taylor said. The internship has allowed him to truly appreciate the opportunity while also increasing his work ethic, organizational skills, and ability to balance his schoolwork and other responsibilities, he said.

“Why I like history so much is because it’s fascinating to study what happened in the past, whether that be locally, nationally or globally,” Taylor said. “In this case, with my experience at the museum, it’s locally.”