My family currently lives in Madison, Wisconsin. I have also lived in Davenport, Iowa; Modesto, California; and Edwardsville, Illinois. I finished my first year at Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.

I am a Younglife leader for a group of high school freshman girls, an Admissions Ambassador, a member of a service fraternity (Alpha Phi Omega), and involved in Campus Ministries. I have not yet decided what I want to major in, but I really enjoy history, Spanish, and political science. I love to travel to new places and have visited numerous places throughout the United States. I am hoping that sometime before I graduate I can study abroad in Spain and do a summer volunteer program in Africa or South America. I also like to read and love playing and watching soccer.

2. How did you learn about the intern program and why did you want to work at the Library of Congress?

I knew little about the Library of Congress until last summer when I came to D.C. on vacation with my family and visited the Library after touring the Capitol. I immediately fell in love with it. It is definitely one of my favorite places in D.C.  

While on a mission trip in Appalachia, I had heard that two girls I knew at Augustana had just completed an internship at the Library. Once we were back at school I talked with the internship coordinators at Augustana and the two girls, and that enabled me to set up a summer internship at the Library.

3. How would you describe your internship?

I created a Science Reference Guide on Environmentalism for kids, young adults, and their educators. I choose books that I believe will be helpful to kids learning about environmentalism and how to live eco-friendly, as well as books that enable educators and parents to teach children more about environmentalism.

4.  What has amazed you the most about the Library?

I’ve been amazed by the number of books in the Library of Congress collections. When I go into the book stacks searching for one or two books on environmentalism, I usually end up coming back with ten or more. The collections are so vast that I could not even conceive so many books could exist on a given topic.

 I certainly underestimated the extent of the Library’s collections.

5. What have you learned about the Library that you didn’t know before you started your internship?

I have learned a lot about the history of the Library. I did not realize how much influence Thomas Jefferson had in establishing the Library. He envisioned a Library of Congress that provided books in all subjects and languages instead of those only focused on legislation. I also did not realize that Jefferson offered to sell his own library to the Library of Congress.