KINGSVILLE (Oct. 30, 2024) — For three years now, Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) and the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of the American Indian (NMAI) have collaborated on strategizing ways the museum could better serve the university and the greater South Texas region, leading to the establishment of a virtual summer internship in 2021.
This semester’s NMAI internship program, which is being done during the fall semester, features a pair of McNair Scholars in agriculture science major Melanie Muñoz and senior history major Brian Briones. The duo will work to combine social media and historical research regarding the John E Conner Museum’s exhibition spotlighting Texas A&M Kingsville’s history and impact on the region as it prepares to celebrate its centennial next year.
Muñoz and Briones will create social media content to help promote the museum’s centennial exhibition set to open in Summer 2025. They will study the South Texas archives and research items for the exhibit, allowing them an opportunity to learn about social media’s impact when promoting museum exhibitions.
They also will learn and implement the best social media practices associated within the context of an institute of higher education and build upon the university’s current documented history.
"I’m excited to work with Melanie on this research opportunity and to be able to help educate people,” Briones said. “I feel like that is a part of our fields of study. We want to be able to educate individuals on these different types of artifacts and this history correlated with the centennial because it’s important to keep this alive and not let it be forgotten.”
With the university having a significant impact on industries not only in the Kingsville community but in the South Texas region as whole, Muñoz hopes to learn more about the roots of the university when it comes to her field of study.
“In general, anthropology begins with culture and society and there’s this connection to agriculture and building a society with people because of the crops that we grew,” Muñoz said. “I want to see specifically here in Kingsville how we did that since the state and this region has a strong agriculture background. I’m really looking forward to seeing information about the King Ranch or other local farmers or maybe learning more about agriculture practices from 100 years ago.”
Muñoz and Briones will coordinate with internship coordinator Cynthia Vidaurri, a TAMUK alumna and Robstown native who serves as a Folklorist at the Smithsonian Institution’s NMAI.
Vidaurri says the internship will require extensive research as social media posts are not excluded from needing citations, though she was excited about the idea of learning ways to bring an historical museum such as the Smithsonian into the social media generation.
“There’s great value in social media if you put good solid research-based content there because it can help you reach a larger audience,” Vidaurri said. “A major part is going to be doing the research. In this case, we’re going to be trying to figure out ways in which social media is value added to the upcoming centennial exhibition at the Conner Museum and the celebration of the university’s 100th anniversary.”
“We want to reflect the changes of technology and on the aesthetics of these items,” she added. “They’re going to be given a lot of space for creativity, so long as it’s good thoughtful information that goes out.”
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