(COOPERSTOWN, NY) – Cooperstown is usually the place where all-stars finish their careers. But for the young women and men who comprise the 2018 Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Youth Leadership Development, the start of a new chapter in their professional lives is just beginning at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. Nineteen college students arrived in Cooperstown in mid-June to begin a 10-week study in a variety of disciplines at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
The Class of 2018 includes Brooklyn Del Barba, a senior at the University of Kentucky majoring in hospitality management and tourism, who is interning in the Hall of Fame’s special events department. “It is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” Del Barba said. “Coming from a strong family background of baseball, it is great that I get to carry on a family tradition and keep working in the sport that brought us together and that we’re all pretty passionate about.”
The Frank and Peggy Steele Internship Program for Youth Leadership Development offers college undergraduate and graduate students an opportunity to work alongside Museum and Library staff members to gain hands-on professional training in a field that closely matches the student’s major. Interns craft leadership and communication skills by attending career seminars hosted by Hall of Fame staff and community leaders, as well as participating in thematic public speaking in the Museum, and research and writing assignments that directly relate to the Museum’s mission. The 19 interns were selected from more than 500 applications from students nationwide.
In addition to completing 40 hours of work each week, interns will participate in a number of career seminars during the program, on topics such as networking, public speaking, community leadership, business etiquette and creating an innovative leadership style. In addition, every intern will host artifact spotlights – brief public presentations with in-depth stories about items in the Museum’s collections – in the Museum throughout the summer.
The internship program began in 2001 and has since welcomed more than 300 interns in an experience made possible by Peggy Steele, who endowed the program in honor of her late husband, Frank, and in his commitment to fostering education and leadership development. Learn more at: https://baseballhall.org/news/2018-hof-interns.