Sarah Lennox
Where are you from: Ithaca, NY
Undergraduate University: Landmark College
What fuels their passion for museums: I believe that museums have the capability to be learning environments that are much more accessible to people of diverse abilities and backgrounds than traditional and formal educational settings.
Favorite museum memory: When I was nine, I went with my third grade class on a field trip to the local museum. We heard a harvest myth from the Bamana people in Mali and looked at a Chiwara mask and then made composite creatures out of clay in the museum studio. When I was twenty, I volunteered for that museum and had the opportunity to lead third grade classes in the same lesson and activity that I had attended at the same age. This experience helped inspire me to choose museums as a career path rather than only as a temporary volunteering opportunity. I went looking in boxes at my parents' house and found the clay creature that I made at age nine and now I keep it on my desk to remind me about the potential impact of a museum visit on someone.
Concentration in program: Museum Education
Industry conferences/workshops attended: The Visitor Experiences Conference (2023)
Professional / Civic Affiliations: American Association of Museums
What type of museum do you want to intern/work for and why: I don't have a strong preference, but I want to work for an organization or museum that has a strong interest in accessibility and partnering with disability organizations.
What do you hope to contribute in a professional job/internship: I hope to develop programming and didactics for specific audiences such as young children or people with Alzheimer's, as well as programming and didactics that are more universal in application.
What do you hope to learn in a professional job/internship: I hope to learn about creating equitable long-term partnerships and working with community groups and organizations. I want to learn more about how to make museum spaces accessible to people with a wide range of disabilities and improve my ability to create museum programs that adhere to universal design for learning principles.