b'student perspective AUDREY TROSSEN 19I HAVE NEVER BEEN A PERSON WITH A SINGULARto think deeply about the calling or surefi e passion. In my first weeks at Smith, power that lies in objects my interests instantly flew to majors ac oss the academ- and their interpretation, ic spectrum. As I scrambled that first year to plot my taught to hone my project academic journey, I read the homepages for just aboutdevelopment skills and every academic program Smith offered and stumbledgiven the confidence tacross the Museums Concentration. Museums inter- lead a team toward a goal ested me for two reasons. The first, because as a chil I myself definedI fell in love with paleontology gazing up at the famousThese same skills allowed me, after a lifetime mastodon skeleton at the New York State Museum; theof being pulled in a thousand directions, to quickly findsecond reason had to do with being a LARPer. Allowmy capstone project, where I emulated geologic fieldme to explain. experiences in a digital tour of the Smith College rock I am a strong believer in the inspirational powerpark using ArcMap and ESRI Online. The culmination of museums. After all, it was my childhood experiences atof my experiences in the concentration allowed me to museums that led me to pursue a degree in geosciences.identify a problem in my communitythe inaccessibility I also know firsthand the power informal education canof field experiences, the basis of many geology classeshave on a young mind. I went to a live-action roleplayat Smithand seek to address it through the lens of (LARP) summer camp for most of my formative years,object interpretation and nontraditional education.45later working as a counselor. LARP uses play, collaborativeI came to realize through the support of SCMAs storytelling and immersion to foster communication,administrators and fellow concentrators that not only was leadership and problem-solving skills. Museum edu- the work I did truly the result of my experiences in the cation, exhibit design and object interpretation areconcentration and the deep thinking encouraged there, natural extensions of this kind of teaching: Museumsbut it also resulted in the creation of a valuable tool to immerse visitors in material and teach in ways thatbe used by the Smith community for decades to come. simply cannot be accomplished in a classroom. In many ways, I am not a traditional Smith College Smiths Museums Concentration allowed meMuseums Concentrator, nor a traditional geologist. I was to take these core beliefs from my time before collegenever completely at home in an art museum like SCMA, and apply them to my practical experiences within theand my interest in museums at times drew me away from concentration. At the Hudson River Maritime Muse- my scientificesearch. But the Museums Concentration um, I worked closely with volunteers and directorsprovided a valuable lens through which to focus on my of education to expand the breadth of educationalacademic interests, and SCMA became a beacon guiding programming, reaching visitors of all ages and back- me toward a lifelong career passion. For me, the learning grounds. Later, at the New York State Museum, alreadyI did there not only made me a more effective leader and brimming with ideas for my upcoming concentrationcommunicator, it provided a path forward, connecting capstone project, I led a team of interns in the de- people and collections in increasingly effective and velopment and facilitation of a Pleistocene workshopcreative ways. which saw hundreds of visitors over the course of a sin-gle day. I drew on my experiences not only as a campAudrey Trossen 19 was a geology major and Museums Concentrator. She is currently geology educator at John Boyd Thacher State Park, counselor, but as a Museums Concentrator encouragedVoorheesville, NY.student perspective: Audrey Trossen 19'