What are you doing here?

Hello!
For my second-ever entry here on this blog, I thought I'd write about something I get asked frequently by a variety of people, when they learn both my field of study and what my graduate assistantship is.

First, I am in the school psychology program here at William and Mary. School psychology isn't school counseling, but that's kind of close. It is a student service, but more instructional/academic/I won't be using a couch and Freudian techniques (not that school counselors do that, of course). Real quick, school psychologists pretty much tackle everything in schools, primarily educational and cognitive testing, behavior plans, classroom placement, academic interventions, special education interventions etc. The profession itself can vary from county to county, school to school.

So, the question I get asked a lot is "What is a (future) school psychologist doing working in an art museum?"
The quick answer: pretty much anything and everything.

While art, art history and museum were brand new to me when I came to graduate school, I was ready for a challenge, for something new. Here at the museum, I lend my knowledge of education to exhibition openings, school outreach, developmentally appropriate materials, student art classes etc. I get to work with students of all ages and abilities, while stretching my own creative legs. I get to jump on research topics and projects, and will hopefully be learning grant writing. For a graduate assistantship, that's not half-bad. (Sure beats PDFing whole books and data entry all day!)

Within the past year, and I can imagine within this coming year, I have been given the opportunity to jump on so many projects and experiences... I'm going to have one interesting and packed curriculum vitae when I interview for internship positions next Spring!
So, it seems the real question should be "Why aren't there more future school psychologists working in art museums?"

~Kathryn

A Brief introduction...

Hello world.
Master of the Blog has commanded I introduce myself, so as a newbie to this whole blogging 'thing', I will give it a shot.....
My name is Kathryn and I am the School Programs and Artreach coordinator here at the Museum.... aka, the graduate assistant. I am a grad student here at William and Mary, studying school psychology. Having received my masters in May, I am now working on my Education Specialist degree.... oh yes, I'll be a master and a specialist. Now, how did a school psychology student end up in a museum?? I think its a grand ol' thing called fate. I have enjoyed tackling this new challenge and field, and learning about art, art history, and the ins-and-outs of a museum, which a year ago seemed like a whole other world to me.
As the school programs coordinator, I help to connect schools to the museum and exhibitions housed here via lesson plans and such. Artreach is a new program we are piloting and testing out, which involves bringing museum resources to the classrooms and schools, eliminating the red-tape and logistics nightmares, on the part of the teachers, of getting field trips here.
This summer, I have been working with the other fabulous ladies, Miss Caitlin and Miss Ansley, during a two-week gifted and talented art camp, as a part of William and Mary's Summer Enrichment Program for gifted students, grades K-10. With a week of The Artistic Word and a week of Looking to Listen, we connected art to the written word and to music with a cross-disciplinary approach to expression. Then, following the two weeks of GT classes, we have been hosting our own youth arts camp for kids with Miss Jen and have just been having fun.
I will admit now that I am neither sly nor witty, but will attempt to be somewhat entertaining, if not informative.
So stop on by, come see what we have here. Trust me, you will learn something new.