Max Mandell
Senior Project 2023 Proposal
3-14-23
Max’s Museum Study
I’m Max and during my senior project I wanted to focus on the subject of history. History has always been a favorite subject of mine and I also plan on studying it as an American Studies major next year at Purdue. For my project, I want to focus on the impact museums have on teaching about history. My main question is “How do museums enhance my knowledge of history and influence the public as a whole?” To answer this question, I plan to visit dozens of museums throughout New York City and look at how museums showcase specific exhibits and how that varies depending on the specific topic.
After my visits to these museums, I plan on documenting everything I learned through notes and also through a weekly podcast. I have never produced a weekly podcast like the ones I see on social media, so this will be a fun and new experience for me. Before I go to each museum I will do a small amount of research beforehand and find a specific exhibit/historical figure I want to examine closely. I want to step out of my comfort zone and especially target areas of study I am not as familiar with. These museum days will occur twice a week, with a third day being my podcast and research day. During these days once I am done constructing the podcast I will use the rest of the day to plan out my next week of museums and research what I want to learn next.
Similar to the museum days, my service commitment will also occur twice a week. For my service commitment I will be working with the school I attended from grades 1-8, All Saints Episcopal Day School in Hoboken, NJ. Once a week every Wednesday I will be working with the school’s “service club” which meets after school. This club is very similar to LREI’s “Engage for Change” community service club where we give back to our community through volunteering, fundraisers, and more. Before I went to LREI, I had been a member of this club from grades 4-8 and still have a great relationship with the teacher who runs it. On my second service day, I will be tutoring/helping out with the school’s “aftercare” program which is for kids who stay after school for either extra help or if their parents can’t pick them up yet. Just like service club, I went to aftercare almost every week when I was at All Saints.
Overall, I am really looking forward to visiting all the museums and studying a topic I love, while also helping out my old middle school that took great care of me for over 8 years.