Welcome Landmarks Spring Interns
Landmarks recently welcomed two new interns, Arianna Hernandez-Baptiste (left) and Elly Kang (right), who joined our Education and Communications departments, respectively. These students will gain real-world experience at Landmarks, amassing skills that will help prepare them for life after college and a career in the arts. Learn more about Arianna and Elly in this blog.
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Arianna Hernandez-Baptiste is a second-year graduate student studying Art Education in the College of Fine Arts. She earned a BA in Studio Art from The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. This semester Arianna joins the Education team to support community outreach and to develop educational materials for events like UT Austin’s Girl Day and Paws for Public Art.
What are you most hoping to get out of your internship?
I want to know more about the planning and administrative side of organizations like Landmarks. I am really interested in how Landmarks does outreach and gets college students involved in their programming.
What types of special projects are you working on as part of your internship?
This semester I’m helping out with Girl Day, UT Austin’s initiative to shrink the gender gap in STEM. As a first-generation student, it’s exciting and rewarding to introduce these kids to higher education and the amazing, fun opportunities it has to offer. I think it’s great that it encourages female and other underrepresented students.
What do you hope to do after grad-school?
After graduation, I hope to work with nonprofits and community organizations in the Austin area. Working with Landmarks has shown me how people are taught art education outside of a traditional school setting and has allowed me to see firsthand how college students interact with art.
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Elly Kang is a fourth-year Studio Art major in the College of Fine Arts. As the communications intern she assists the department with creating content for social media, managing Landmarks’ resources on the web, and preparing materials for Landmarks’ 15th Anniversary.
When did you become interested in art?
In high school, when I came to the United States, I had a really hard time getting used to the new environment, language, culture, and people. During classes, I couldn’t understand the contents in English at all, and because I didn’t know what the right or wrong answer was, the only thing I could do in every class was to be silent. But art was different. When I first took a fine art class, the way I created colors, drew lines, made decisions, and came up with ideas—anything was accepted and everything was right. Art connects us all, regardless of language barriers and cultural differences.
How did you first learn about Landmarks?
In fall 2021, I began volunteering with Landmarks Preservation Guild where I learned conservation techniques and improved my writing skills. The experience boosted my self-confidence as I realized that I contributed positively to this program and assisted the community. The experience made a great impression on me, and I wanted to continue this meaningful engagement further.
What do you hope to do post-college and how does this internship help you reach these goals?
I am deeply interested in communicating visual ideas across various platforms. My final career goal is to become a social media manager or communications director. I am currently getting entry-level, hands-on experience with social media on/off-campus so I will have a great background before I apply for full-time positions post-college.
As a communications intern at Landmarks, I am broadening my professional skills and visual communications experience. By applying my visual art experience and design skills, I am creating interactive content for online communities. There are a lot of things I need to know to become a social media manager. I have already experienced and learned new skills at Landmarks and I will be learning even more during the rest of the internship.