Peer Navigator
Hannah Riley
Major: Museum Studies
Minor/Immersion: History, French
Hometown: Buffalo, New York
Email: hxrgla@rit.edu
My favorite thing about COLA is how connected everyone is. A lot of the COLA faculty make strong connections with students that make students feel welcomed. I also love that RIT is a big school because it is easier to find a niche group of people that you fit in with and there are also more resources. RIT has a great sense of community— I always feel welcome wherever I go and feel at home while I am on campus.
RIT has given me many opportunities in the museum studies field that I would not get anywhere else. I have had the opportunity to work at the Genesee Country Village Museum, The Albright Knox, and the Castellani Art Museum along with working with a private collection.
My favorite project was working with the private collection. This project was cataloging William C. Miles poster collection. This was a private collection of over 1,0000 1960s counterculture posters. This included drug posters, political posters, and psychedelic rock posters with artists like Janis Joplin, Jefferson Airplane, and Jimi Hendrix.
I also had the opportunity to work at the Castellani Art Museum at Niagara University in Niagara Falls, NY. At the museum I participated in a four week long art and theatre children’s summer camp called the Kids n’ Art Camp. It was eye opening to see the role education has on a museum and introduced me to what a museum educator does. Opportunities like these are why internships and experiences are so important. It is important to get a feel for the job you want to do and work with the people in positions you want to be in to see if you enjoy it. It is also good to explore other work experiences in your field because you might enjoy something better than what you originally thought. Always remember to explore different avenues and experiment with your career while you can, this is the perfect time to do that.