My name is Jacob Phillips, and I am a fourth-year distinguished major history student at the University of Virginia. For my Nau Center internship, I spent the summer at Antietam National Battlefield, working with its amazing interpretation staff and engaging with the public. My daily work consisted of interacting with visitors at the front desk, doing research to expand my understanding of the battle of Antietam and its consequences, and giving half-hour battlefield overviews in the park’s beautiful orientation room.

These overviews were my favorite part of my day. I stood up in front of 20 to 60 interested people and gave a presentation that I created to explain the battle of Antietam. What was most exciting about this presentation was that, while it consisted of all the necessary information about the battle, the talk was my own. As I developed it throughout the summer, the park staff helped reinforce my ideas and interests by giving me literature that they thought I would find interesting. They also listened to my talks and gave notes, and they were there to discuss my ideas as my talk evolved over time. Because we each created our own talks, we could focus on our own personal interests. I researched and presented on religion’s role in the battle, which I find fascinating. This also allowed me to develop my DMP (Distinguished Majors Program) thesis, which is on the same topic.

While battlefield overviews were the most exciting time of the day, they only lasted for 30 minutes. I spent most of my time interacting with visitors. Getting to talk to the public, explain the different aspects of the Civil War, and help people understand why our country is the way it is today through the lens of the war was beyond rewarding. People from all walks of life and all over the world came to the park, and the perspectives that they carried with them helped me understand the war and the public’s idea of the war more clearly. It was also always rewarding to see young people come to the park with so much excitement for the history and nature we preserved. They asked the most thought-provoking questions that visitors could ask. Seeing young people so fascinated by history and so eager to understand the past is an amazing thing, and I was always happy to inform pessimistic visitors who believed the youth do not care for history that they were deeply mistaken.

To supplement our daily work and enrich our time at the park, the park staff did their best to find work that would excite and challenge us throughout the summer. I had the opportunity to edit the script for the new film that will be shown in the park’s theatre this fall, and I translated the park’s brochure into Spanish to help make our nation’s history more accessible. I also worked with a ranger to create a 45-minute talk on the memory of the battle of Antietam, which I presented to the public several times. My daily work was always meaningful and never became boring or monotonous, and I showed up excited just to be at the park every day. These individualized tasks, which challenged us to create something even more meaningful, made my time at Antietam all the better.

My internship at Antietam will always be something I hold dear to my heart. Although I do not plan to enter the National Park Service as of now, the life skills I took away from this opportunity are indispensable, and the people I met and worked with made my life all the better. I am thrilled to see the progress I made in public speaking, collaboration, research, and writing this summer, and I know that I will not forget the lessons learned at the park. I believe that, as I begin law school and join the legal profession in the coming years, the work that I did at the park will be foundational in my abilities to express ideas, conduct research in the workplace, and be a better person generally. Working as an intern at Antietam National Park made for one of my most cherished summers, and I would not change a thing about my time there.