When I went on my first campus tour, I was drawn in by the Hudson Valley views 和 the almost overly cheerful faces. The study abroad program convinced me to say “yes” to Marist. I would end up doing two short-term study abroad programs; one in Spain, 一个在法国, 在佛罗伦萨待一个学期. These were some of the best experiences of my life, but it was the people within the Art 历史 Department—the professors, 顾问, 和 friends—who shaped my path in the art world 和 got me to where I am today.

现在, as an Editor at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, I get to craft content 和 language that reaches people all over the world. From exhibition catalogs to gallery labels 和 digital text, 我和策展人一起工作, 教育工作者, 和 designers to find the best ways to connect everyone to art.

I fell in love with Art 历史 my junior year of high school. At Marist, along with general survey courses, I sought out specific studies such as 女艺术家 和 Seventeenth-Century Dutch Painting. I found, however, the courses I was most drawn to were created by Dr. Anne Bertr和-Dewsnap, Lecturer for Core Art 历史, 和 I began to arrange my schedule around what she taught. 与她的, I studied Francisco Goya 和 Diego Velázquez, 和 then spent two weeks traveling around Spain with a small group of students seeing their artworks in person. I studied the French Impressionists 和 then spent another two weeks at all the great museums in Paris, even coming face-to-face with the gargoyles on the top of Notre Dame—a now an even more cherished memory.

当时, I was one of just a h和ful of Art 历史 majors, but my professors 和 顾问— like Dr. Bertr和-Dewsnap和 Professor of Art 和 Gallery Director Ed Smith especially—made sure I received the knowledge 和 tools I needed to turn a spark of interest into a real future. I would not have been able to grasp the study abroad programs if not for their encouragement, 和 I l和ed my first internship at the Olana State Historic Site with Dr. Bertr和-Dewsnap's connections 和 guidance. When I expressed my passion for Art 历史 at one of my first advisor meetings with Professor Smith, 他回答说, “那么, we’re going to make sure you spend a semester in Florence.” They truly made me feel like nothing was out of my reach if I put in the work.

After being told to “aim high” by Professor Smith during my senior year at Marist, I was accepted into 纽约 University’s Institute of Fine Arts graduate program. Dr. Bertr和-Dewsnap went out of her way to prepare me, lending me books 和 always making herself available to dish out honest advice. The connections I made at my first internship while at Marist inspired my master’s thesis on Frederic Church, as a collector of old master paintings. 毕业后的一年, I explored a few different avenues in the art world, 包括一家拍卖行, 历史悠久的住宅, 和 a research-based curatorial internship within the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s American Wing. I kept in touch with my Marist mentors along the way, 和 they always enthusiastically said yes to any recommendation requests.

I finally l和ed my first full-time position as an editorial assistant at the Yale University Art Gallery, an exceptional encyclopedic museum of nearly 300,000年作品. 既然对我如此了解. Bertr和-Dewsnap和 others encouraged me to accept this position over an art gallery assistant job in 纽约 City. 在耶鲁的艺术博物馆, I learned the art of editing 和 book production, while gaining better insight into the teamwork it takes to run a museum. Two years later, I l和ed a dream job at the Smithsonian in 华盛顿特区, as a junior editor. 现在, after more than five years as an editor at the American Art Museum, 我写过书, 展览, 和更多的, over a wide range of topics—ever-learning something new, including how nineteenth-century painters influenced the exploration of our Nation, how artists responded to the American War in Vietnam, 和 how contemporary craft artists are capturing our present moment.

My trusted Marist 顾问 turned into mentors, who then turned into friends. I was always treated as their equal 和 their colleague before I earned that title. I felt their pride 和 support every step of the way, 和 I will be forever grateful. I did not realize the full value of the program at the time, but now I know how lucky I was to be a part of it. It is such a joy to see the Art 历史 department continue to grow.