Tag: Mayor’s Youth

Guest Post from our summer Mayor’s Youth

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

Today we have a special guest post from our summer Mayor’s Youth, Janelle Townes. Janelle is a student at Cambridge Rindge & Latin. Find out more about the Mayor’s Youth program (MYSEP) here.

Hi, my name is Janelle Townes and I am working at the Cambridge Historical Commission for part of the summer. I have lived in Cambridge my whole life and my family has owned/lived in the same house since the late 1940s. I have 2 pets, a(n) 11-year-old cat named Midnight and a 5-year-old dog named Nugget.

MIDNIGHT
SLEEPY NUGGET

One of my favorite parts of working at CHC is no day is the same as the other. For example, someone could come in asking about the history of their home or they could be bringing in unidentified china that they dug up in their backyard. I had a slight interest in history before working here, but after a few days it spiked.

One of my favorite projects this summer was typing up all the names, term dates, and other information of the Cambridge city councilors from 1915-2016. I enjoyed the project because I was able to see which year the first women were on the city council and the year when the first women of color were on the city council. One of my favorite collections here is the Historical Objects Collection. The objects are one of my favorite collections because I enjoy looking at old everyday objects. I think it’s cool to take a peek into the past.

Object images photographed by John Dalterio

One of my biggest interests is traveling. It’s so much fun! And my favorite place to go is Cancun, Mexico which I go to every other year.

cancun
MEXICO!!!!

Thanks, Janelle!

New Guest Post from our Mayor’s Youth

Posted on by cambridgehistoricalcommission

My Time Working as a Mayor’s Youth for the Commission

Hello, I’m Raimi. I am interning at the Cambridge Historical Commission for half of the summer of 2018, through the Mayor’s Summer Youth Employment Program. I started to be interested in history during 6th grade, because that was the first year we had a real dedicated history class. That year we learned mostly about geography, pre-civilization humans, and the bronze age. Eventually my gaze fell upon history in the last 200 years or so, especially the Cold War, and very ancient history.

(This could be either of the two things I just mentioned)
(This could be either of the two things I just mentioned)

History is what I want to do with my life, and I’m glad I got this chance to work in an actual historical workplace. I deal with mostly filing and photocopying. One of the coolest projects was when I made a spreadsheet of almost 400 photo negatives, which took a little over 3 days to complete.

What I like best about interning here is that there is usually something new to do every day. To be specific, one day I might be photocopying entire books, and the next I could be filing away slides. My favorite artifact here at the CHC is this long petition for a new water source with over 2000 signatures, including one Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

A few facts about myself is that I have a cat named Moonlight, and a dog named Lola, but my favorite animal is the Venezuela Poodle Moth.

THE MOTH
Lola Belle Wiggles
Dr. Moonlight M.D.

I enjoy reading, and my favorite book is Lirael by Garth Nix, but I would say the most well written book I’ve ever read is Lord of the Flies by William Golding.

Oof ouch, the fire is too hot

Last thing I want to say is that if you’re in high school you can get job experience right now. It doesn’t even have to be a MYSEP job, it could just be volunteering at your school library. So don’t wait and start early.