This was my last week as an intern for the Alliance for Historic Hillsborough. I finished up my work on the African American History tour. I was able to collect a solid amount of information regarding the slave owners that had been instrumental in the building of Hillsborough. After that, the only objective was to create the finished product of the tour.

Based on the information I had and the locations within downtown Hillsborough that corresponded, I was able to plot a route that would stop by each place. Starting in East Hillsborough, the tour will follow Margaret Lane west. From there the tour heads northeast to end up back at Churton St. I translated my notes on each historic figure and location into paragraph form and I was finished with the tour. This will now be used as a resource for the tour guides that will offer this particular tour visitors.

In reflection, this internship was very beneficial to my search for a future career path. I now know that I definitely cannot be a “paper-pusher”. I need to have some level of authority or creative license within my workplace. I also know that I will need to be working with other people on a regular basis. During the moments when I was alone in the office or at the library, I found that I did not work as well.

While in the intern position this summer, other career options presented themselves to me through other avenues. However, without the knowledge that I gained about myself through this experience, I may not have looked twice at these other opportunities. I don’t think I will end up working in a small historic office like that in the future, but I definitely gained invaluable experience in my time at the Alliance.