Cooperstown Graduate Program Welcomes Incoming Students

By CONOR S. BRANDT
COOPERSTOWN

Look out for the newest batch of excited young people who have just arrived in the area, ready to be molded into accomplished museum professionals at the Cooperstown Graduate Program.

Twenty-four new students began their first semester at the program at the end of August with a tour of Cooperstown, learning about the history of the village and becoming acquainted with the local area and SUNY Oneonta.

These students are unique in many ways. They are diverse, with accomplished individuals coming to the program from many corners of the country. In addition to New York State, they hale from as far away as Ghana, Florida and Missouri. They are also arriving with previous museum experience, many having worked in museums before applying to the program. Now they look to CGP to gain knowledge about museums that can’t be found anywhere else, officials contend.

Last week, classes began in earnest. CGP students will be learning all there is to know about museums and working with local communities, studying everything from fundraising and development to museum education and material culture.

In all its classes, CGP makes sure to maintain an emphasis on project-based learning. This semester, students will be documenting the oral histories of local residents and working with the Adirondack Experience museum, collecting memories for an exhibition on African Americans in the Adirondacks. They will also be collaborating with the League of Women Voters of the Cooperstown Area and conducting research for a local historic house and property. Students will also practice their event planning skills, as they host CGP’s annual Snowed-In Soiree.

It has never been more exciting to be a new student at the graduate program, students said.

CGP maintains a commitment to teaching excellence in museum studies with an emphasis on instructing its students through hands-on projects that are designed to serve local organizations and to push students out of the classroom and into the real world. According to officials, no student leaves the program without an exemplary resume filled with experiences working with and for museums across the country.

Conor S. Brandt is a student in the Cooperstown Graduate Program, studying museum administration and history.