b'Academy who had been visiting the exhibitionPlastic Entanglements with their teachers and Gina Hall, Educator for School and Family Programs, presented poems, songs and statements about the exhibition andINTRODUCING the urgency of addressing single-use plastic. ComingJESSICA HENRY-CROSSout of this experience, the students petitioned theirFINANCIAL AND SYSTEMS COORDINATORschool to reduce plastic waste. We hope that in the coming year, you will In her role as the museums financial and systems coo -continue to turn to SCMA not just as a place to seedinator, Jessica Henry-Cross manages the budget, monitors works of art, but also as a place to form and deepenspending and analyzes data. But to Jess, the job is about connections with other cultures, histories and people. much more than numbersits about storytelling: I love turning complicated and sometimes confusing infor- Lily Foster, associate director of museum administrationmation into a story that resonates with others.Jess own story includes jobs as a ski instructor, bank teller, bakery clerk and math tutor. With a dual49degree in accounting and mathematics from Elms College, she worked as a cost analyst in a manufacturing company prior to joining the museum in November 2017. One of the things I love about finance is the factthat it transcends different industries, and I love that now I get to do it here at SCMA where the work I do supports programs that are an integral part of being humanart and education.Her responsibilities include serving as a liaison between the museum and the controllers office, andshe enjoys seeing, understanding and communicating the museums financials within the context of the collegas a whole. And because her work includes a share of the mundane, shes taken to brightening boring emails with pictures of her beloved dog, Ermen.Working closely with curators as they create exhibitions and decide on acquisitions is a professional highlight, says Jess, noting that although their job descriptions might be very different, their professional objectives are surprisingly the same: Were all dealing with a huge amount of material and finding useful andcompelling ways to turn it into a story that needs to be told.'