Thank You, Interns

Natalia Ruano and Sophia Vayansky––both from Duquesne University––and Erin Witt from the University of Pittsburgh successfully completed volunteer internships with PHLF in December 2018.

Natalia, who will be attending graduate school in New York City for Museum Studies, helped with the Architecture Apprenticeship program and created a series of worksheets to help students learn the Spanish words for features in our built and natural environments. She also created a word search in Spanish and a Bingo game.

Sophie, who is a Public History MA student at Duquesne University, was especially helpful in proofreading the December issue of PHLF News, suggesting website improvements for the Education pages, and analyzing our tour activity from 2012 through 2018. She also opened a Trip Advisor account for PHLF. Tour participants are now able to give feedback more easily and their comments will help promote our tour program.

Erin graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s History Department in December 2018. She attended many of the Free Friday walking tours in September and October, taking photographs and developing a list of best techniques and tips based on her observations. She also assisted PHLF’s Archivist and realized that she wants to pursue archival studies in graduate school.

We are grateful to Natalia, Sophie, and Erin for volunteering their time and talent and wish them much success. They summed up their experiences at PHLF in the fall of 2018 with the following comments:

Volunteering at PHLF has been a great experience. I got to do many exciting things, from learning about the city in the downtown walking tours to helping second graders learn about their community in Mount Lebanon. Pittsburgh is an amazing city, and every new day being at PHLF showed me a different side of the organization. PHLF has several programs that deal with many communities and involve diverse people from all age ranges and groups. With my bilingual skills, I was able to help the foundation by designing worksheets in Spanish to help children learn about the city and architecture in a fun way. I also got to help in the Architecture Apprenticeship program for high school students, by having some background in Architecture, and appreciate the effort that the architects and urban designers made to inspire the high school students in pursuing that profession. I take this opportunity with me in the next step of my life, moving to New York City to get a master’s degree and pursue a career in Art History. It was definitely a worthwhile experience; I learned so much and would love to return as a volunteer in the future. ––Natalia Ruano, Duquesne University (History)

 Attending the free Friday walking tours was such a fun way to get to know Pittsburgh and meet the committed docents! Everyone was so kind and passionate. I could really get a great idea as to why PHLF is so needed and appreciated! I also loved assisting with projects in the Frank B. Fairbanks Rail Transportation Archive. It was so rewarding to get practical archival experience that helped inspire my professional goals! –– Erin Witt, University of Pittsburgh (History)