>> When I was a freshman here at the University of Delaware, I took a trip to Italy
with my family and I was really struck by all the art and architecture there
and when I came back, I started looking at the courses of study here at the university
to see exactly what I wanted to get my degree in because at that point I really wasn't sure.
And I was excited to learn that they had an art conservation program here
because it wasn't something that I even realized I could get a degree in.
I knew that I loved museums but I didn't really understand
that I could get a specific degree in order to work in a museum.
And once I realized that, that was it; I was so pleased.
Right after graduation, I -- well, luckily at this program, you have to take internships
so I think that helped me; worked at a couple
of different places before graduating, sort of built up my resume.
And then after graduating, I got a job in Philadelphia at a paper conservation center
and I knew that I needed to go to grad school to sort of further my career but I wanted to work
for a little while and get some more experience.
So I did that for a year and then I applied for grad school and I got
into the George Washington University in DC for their museum studies program.
And that program also requires internships which is great.
There were a lot of big museums in DC so I worked at the Smithsonian for a little while
and then after graduating, I decided I wanted to come back up this way; this is where I'm from.
So I looked for jobs in Philadelphia again and found the one
that I'm currently in so it worked out well.