Final Week

I would like to think 3 people specifically for helping my experience this summer be one of the bests I have ever had. The first is Dr. Jones who ran the field school and who without, I would not be interested in archaeology today. The second is Dr. Jones’ research assistant, Caroline, who made his job easier, allowed for an intervened between workers my age and Dr. Jones and as someone to look up to and answer our questions when Dr. Jones was busy. The third is Dr. Margaret Bender who helped us to interact with Cherokee people and develop a hopefully continuing relationship with Native American communities.

I learned and accomplished more during this field season than I have ever before but the most important thing that I learned was that I absolutely want to pursue archaeology as a career. I discovered how passionate I am for this work and I loved every second of it. Figuring out if archaeology is truly for me is a major reason why I wanted this experience and I am so glad that this question was answered in a positive light.

As for my career and academic exploration in the future, I have decided to focus in North American Archaeology compared to Old World Archaeology. This is a product of the love of the work and research that I did this summer on the southeast United States.

Finally, 1 piece of advice that I have for future students in internships is to make sure that you make long lasting and good relationships. Don’t make a bad impression. I feel like something that really helped me this summer was that I got a long with everyone else I’m the field school and made sure to respect and take time to get to know them. I believe that without doing this, I would not have had such a great experience.