Jazmin Gonzalez, 20, of DeQueen, is a junior history education major with a minor in Latin American Studies at the University of Central Arkansas.  She heard about the internship through an announcement from UCA’s history department. The position interested her because she wanted to learn about the field of public history and explore what opportunities there are for history majors besides teaching.

Jazmin started at the end of May and will work at SARA through the first week of August.  She is a fast learner with a strong work ethic, and we are so excited to have her as part of the team. 

She has enjoyed the people she has met in Washington and loves learning new skills such as processing collections and helping assemble some of the new furnishings at SARA that will improve the research experience for patrons.  Jazmin enjoys interesting finds in collections and says what she enjoys most is that, “It’s really cool to contribute to preserving history for people who want to research their families and communities.”  One of the collections she has been processing is that of The Hope Star which includes many photographs that were published in the paper during the 1990s.  These include family and community events that help document the history of Hope.

When not studying history, she enjoys listening to music—especially Spanish rock and hip-hop, photography and photo editing in Photoshop, and watching movies with friends—especially movies in the horror genre.

The SARA Foundation, Inc., which is the friends group for SARA, sponsors the internship salary each year, and Historic Washington State Park also gives support by providing housing.  Applications are posted in the spring through the Arkansas State Archives.  For more information, contact Archival Manager, Melissa Nesbitt at [email protected] or call 870-983-2633.