Nina’s Journey

Why Grinnell?

I went to a small, private high school that resembled a college environment. I had lots of freedom to choose my own classes and extracurricular activities.

I wanted that same small, flexible environment in college and looked for small liberal arts colleges. After talking with Grinnell students and professors, I loved the individualized attention, open-style curriculum, and the community that Grinnell offered. I ultimately committed to Grinnell through the Early Decision application round.

First Year

Residence Halls

My dorm hall was a social dorm, which made meeting new friends and trying new things easier. Groups of people came in and out of the kitchens and people hosted frequent parties.

I had a great relationship with my community adviser, who was a third-year student at the time. I went to them frequently for advice on many things.

My first-year roommate and I are now best friends. Although we have very different living habits, we are very close.

First-Year Tutorial

My tutorial class was called Comrades in the Kitchen: Russian and Soviet Food Culture in the 20th Century. It was a fun class where we frequently cooked in the Global Kitchen and learned about the culture behind the food. We cooked many of the foods we studied in classes and looked at food's relationship to gender and class.

The shchi, a type of cabbage soup, and the piroshki are my two favorite foods from the tutorial.

The class inspired me to take more Russian classes in the following semesters.

Major

I came to Grinnell with the intention of double majoring in art history and history. I had enjoyed these subjects in high school and I was certain that art history and history were the two majors I wanted to study in college.

I chose both of my art history and history advisers after I took a couple of their classes. We had already developed a strong relationship.

Externship

During my spring break, I shadowed a self-employed alumna who works as a printmaker for a living. As part of my externship, I assisted with her work and created some designs. It was a meaningful time and a great introduction to the industry.

Research

In our summer graduate-level research project, the Mentored Advanced Project (MAP), my professor, three other student researchers, and I explored the history of textile labor through the lens of access and equity. Back then, textile work was not regarded as labor because it was considered “women’s work.” We sought to reframe their labor through a different lens and read the work of many scholars. We assessed their use in our research and assembled an annotated bibliography together. The research was titled, "Craft as Labor: the History of Labor as it Relates to Craft Production."

Each student researcher also had their own research projects. Mine focused on the impact of women’s work on the development of fashion in the 19th century. It was a lot of reading, but it was an incredibly fulfilling process.

During my free time over the summer, I got very familiar with the town of Grinnell and the state of Iowa. I often biked at Rock Creek State Park.

Internships and Industry Experiences

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of opportunities Grinnell provides in the arts. We have the Burling and Kistle libraries for student employees and researchers, the Grinnell College Museum of Art for students who want museum work experience, and various on-campus clubs and organizations for student projects.

The vast internship and work-study experiences I’ve gained at Grinnell have given me valuable industry experience and a solid foundation. After many internships and work studies at the Burling Library, I now want to work full-time in an archival or library environment and get a master's degree in library science. 

Archival Experiences at the Library

For all four years, I’ve worked at an on-campus library. I find the work fun: I assist students and professors with their research, and shelving books is like solving a puzzle to me — every book just fits right into its correct place.

In my work, I help researchers find relevant information and materials for their projects. I organize and shelve books according to the library's archival systems. My job involves many person-to-person interactions, which I find incredibly satisfying. 

Archives

During the summer between my first and second years, I interned at Pacific Atrocities Education. The nonprofit has a strong relationship with Grinnell: the founder is a Grinnellian, and the foundation hires many Grinnellians.

I archived primary sources into an online archive and worked to make the sources more accessible to the public. The collections work that I did there gave me valuable industry experience.

Special Collections Work

This past summer at Grinnell's special collections was my favorite summer in Grinnell. Every day, my coworkers and I digitized new items, cataloged materials, and assisted student and faculty researchers on their advanced research projects. If a Mentored Advanced Project (MAP) group needed specific information but didn’t know where to look, the researchers turned to us.

Special collections work was one of the most enjoyable jobs I’ve done. Sleuthing out obscure and niche information is always a fun challenge, and I learned more about Grinnell’s history through my work. As always, the person-to-person interaction side of this work was incredibly fulfilling to me.

I now want to work in a research-focused setting. Going through my own MAP and helping others with theirs made me realize my love for the academic research world.

A Seat at the Table

I am a member of the Department of Art History's Student Educational Policy Committee (SEPC). Each major and concentration has its own SEPC, and we serve as student representatives for Grinnell’s academic decisions for the major. 

We meet regularly to discuss department issues, faculty hiring, and the art history curriculum at Grinnell. Externally, we host events for current students and share our knowledge of the major to underclassmen.

Here, the art history SEPC put together a poster board for the major fair!

This semester, we are reviewing a faculty member. The work keeps us busy: we conduct interviews with current students who have taken classes with the professor for their honest feedback. I like that students conduct this process, since it leads to more candid and peer-to-peer conversations.

Theatre Tech

Theatre has been one of my constants at Grinnell, and I’ve participated in most sides of theatre tech. 

I worked as a stagehand for one semester and in the scene shop for two, where I made props for the shows. Last year, I was an assistant stage manager for a production. My work as an assistant stage manager was demanding, but I was happy to see everything come together seamlessly.

Off-Campus Study

Semester in Prague

After my tutorial class with Professor Armstrong, I took many Russian classes and developed an interest in studying Central and Eastern Europe. I wanted to experience a Slavic environment, and Prague seemed like a good place. Although people in Prague speak Czech, both Czech and Russian are Slavic languages. It was also a good academic choice: the Czech program had classes that counted toward my major.

In Prague, I went to as many museums and libraries as I could. I wanted to directly engage with history in an urban setting and physically went to these places to do so. I gained many insights and different perspectives on both history and the museum and library industries.

Happy Memories!