This summer, the Friends welcomed three impressive interns with an expansive skill set to work on two important park projects. Two Parks Care GIS interns focused on digitally mapping the Public Garden's rose beds and formal floral beds and creating an active inventory of plantings. Weirong Luo and Matthew Martin's work will help make these aspects of the Garden more accessible to the public. The Public Art intern expanded existing research on a designated group of sculptures, working to understand the history of each statue, how it fits into park design and the city's history, as well as the current context of the figure. Sosina Assefa's review of six monuments will provide context for future investigation and conversation. She also provided insight into how other cities are experimenting with alternative forms of commemoration.
Each of our interns fell in love with the parks in their own way and expressed awe and admiration for the history and the beauty of these greenspaces, as well as the amount of care needed to maintain them. We, in turn, were thrilled to work with these young people, with their original ideas and technical expertise.
These three young people brought impressive skills and exceptional enthusiasm to their projects. Both the parks care and public projects are still wrapping up, but the results are incredibly promising! We look forward to sharing more in the weeks ahead.
MEET OUR INTERNS!
Sosina Assefa:
Public Art Intern Sosina Assefa graduated from Tufts University this spring with a degree in Art History and a concentration in User Interface Design. She grew up loving art and design and will return to Tufts this fall as a "Double Jumbo," pursuing a Masters in Human Factors Engineering. Sosina is passionate about taking a critical look at the political and economic systems that impact the experiences of women and people of color in the art and art history world. In her free time, she enjoys sports and exploring music and art from around the world. Sosina very much enjoyed her internship under the supervision of Sarah Hutt, Collections Care Manager and Susan Abell, Director of Communications & Outreach and has developed a new appreciation for public art and the statues in the three parks.
Weirong Luo:
Parks Care GIS Intern Weirong Luo comes from Xiamen, a beautiful city in southeast China known as "the Garden of the Sea." She is a second-year graduate student majoring in Landscape Architecture at Rhode Island School of Design. She holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Landscape Architecture from Tongji University in China and graduated with the honor of Excellent Graduate. With a name that means "a lush banyan tree" in Chinese, it seems appropriate that she has always had a great interest in nature and art. Her dream is to become a landscape architect and artist. Weirong really enjoyed the internship, and she hopes that the outcome of this project will help strengthen the connection between the public and the "amazing" Public Garden.
Matthew Martin:
Matthew Martin is entering his senior year at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst studying Geography with a concentration in Geographic Information Science and Technology (GIST). This Parks Care GIS intern has had a lifelong interest in geography, from researching the emergence of GIS technologies back in high school, to utilizing it in the real world. In a previous internship with the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, he focused on getting his first hands-on experience with GIS technology, He also interned with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, and worked as a part-time undergraduate GIS Analyst at UMass Amherst before joining the Friends this summer. Matthew has enjoyed being able to work creatively with Weirong and the Friends' staff on the ArcGIS Story Map project, trying to display each asset of the Public Garden to the general public.
Our Parks Care GIS interns worked with Bob Mulcahy, Director of Parks Care & Capital Projects, and Eric DiTommaso, Parks Care Specialist.