OMA 2024 Student Scholarship Blog - Miabella Centuori
The Ohio Museums Association is committed to connecting and empowering museum professionals at all stages of their career — including our student and emerging museum professionals!
For our 2024 OMA Annual Conference, OMA was very proud to offer students seeking careers in the museum field, scholarships to attend OMA 2024 in Sandusky.
We're closing out our 2024 Conference series with this week's post from Student Scholarship Winner, Miabella Centuori! Miabella is a recent graduate of The Ohio State University with a degree in Entomology.
Miabella was an intern at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, and a volunteer at the Triplehorn Insect Collection within the OSU Museum of Biological Diversity.
Did you miss our previous Conference Blog posts? Learn more about the Conference Blog series and read our previous entries here.
Old Ambitions, New Perspectives
One of the first things I did after arriving at the 2024 OMA conference was buy a sandwich. During this brief interaction, I was unprepared for one very simple question- “What museum are you with?” I replied that I was actually still a student, I’m not currently affiliated with a museum, in which time the transaction was finished and I took my lunch back to my room while I waited for the buses for the local museum tours to take off. As I munched away, a question popped into my head- “What am I doing here?” I realized that this was why I was feeling anxious about the conference. I knew I was interested in museums- I’ve always loved visiting them, I’ve had the opportunity to work with them through interning and volunteering, and as I was about to graduate, I was on the lookout for possible career opportunities. I knew that I wanted to work in the field of museums, and I was excited to be able to attend the conference, but I began to feel like I wouldn’t be able to make the most out of my time at the conference due to my limited experience. However, I was soon to be proven wrong.
When I got on the bus for the Sunday tours, I still had my doubts. But, as soon as we got out at the first destination, I could feel them start to melt away as I emerged from the bus with everyone else. We got to see four great museums that I had never even heard of before, talk to the people managing them, and learn new pieces of Sandusky’s history.
Although the museums themselves were the highlight, something that struck me while shuttling back and forth between locations was how enthusiastic all of my fellow conference attendees were. Several times, I would observe two people sit down next to each other and launch into a spirited discussion about their museums, and I assumed that they must already have known each other, until I heard them exchange introductions! I myself found myself having conversations with people around me who were years or even decades along with their museum careers, learning about what they do, where they work, and how they got there. And, of course, my own lack of experience wasn’t anything to be ashamed of. In fact, I already was beginning to feel silly for worrying about it in the first place.
Later that day, during the awards ceremony, being able to see all the exciting new projects and incredible people in the field opened my eyes to the diversity of new programs and exhibits that museums across Ohio have been putting out this year, as well as the people that make them happen. Throughout the next day, I was able to attend different panels from three very different museum perspectives. The Akron Art Museum discussed their programs engaging senior members of the community in museum activities, Mill Creek Metroparks outlined the process of redeveloping their 100-year-old Ford nature center and the land around it, and the Lorain Historical Society’s panel highlighted the process of outfitting the Moore House as a new storage facility, and the deaccession of artifacts that no longer served their mission.
All three talks opened my eyes to new kinds of challenges and considerations unique to each different kind of museum that need to be dealt with. This is another thing that was impressed upon me in my time at the conference- the diversity in how different kinds of museums run.
Although many museums have the same overarching goals and face similar problems to one another, the specifics of what they are trying to display, even what kind of building the museum is in, make the process of tackling problems unique to each situation. The impacts of COVID-19 were especially evident, as even in 2024, many organizations were only this past year able to complete projects that were thrown off by the events of 2020. Being able to hear about what kind of decision making has to be made behind the scenes was really valuable to me as someone considering museum work as a career.
At the start of my visit, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to make the most of my conference trip- a feeling somewhat fueled by the pre-existing stress of my impending graduation. However, after attending the conference, I can see how wide of a field museum work really is. From everyone I was able to speak to, and the panels I was able to attend, I learned so much about the breadth of opportunities available and the many different ways to reach a career in museums. I’m passionate about the scientific outreach and education that museums can provide, and it’s something that I plan to pursue as I find my way in life.
Something that I especially appreciated about the conference was being able to meet with people face to face. I made so many more connections than I would have just from coincidentally sitting next to someone or walking up to a table for a quick chat than I could have over zoom. Virtual meetings are valuable in many circumstances, but as long as in-person events like this can be done safely, those kinds of chance meetings are something that can only happen at an in-person event like this. I would like to thank the Ohio Museum Association for providing me with the scholarship that allowed me to attend this conference. Being able to participate provided me with a new perspective on my professional opportunities and the ability to connect with new people in the museum field. It was an invaluable experience, and I hope to be able to attend in the future!