Luther sophomore Gmitro interns at Isthmian Archaeological Museum in Greece

Megan Gmitro, Luther sophomore, spent her summer among Roman and Greek pottery in Corinth, Greece, as part of an internship with the Isthmian Archaeological Museum. From the Roman port of Kenchreai to the Cummer Tomb, Gmitro processed many artifacts from this area to be catalogued for the museum.

The daughter of Todd and Sara Gmitro of Naperville, Illinois, Gmitro graduated from Metea Valley High School in 2016. She plans to graduate from Luther College in 2020 with a Bachelor of Arts in history and minors in museum studies and classics.

Gmitro cleaned both Roman and Greek pottery sherds at the Roman port of Kenchreai. After cleaning the pottery, Gmitro assigned each piece a number, label and bag so it could be catalogued and stored in the museum.

She also worked at the Roman Cummer Tomb where she cleared overgrown vegetation and dirt that had accumulated between limestone blocks, and worked at the remains of a Roman Basilica at the Roman port of Kenchreai where she cleared vegetation and unearthed a tile and mosaic flooring.

Gmitro says the best lesson of her internship was learning how artifacts are processed within a museum. After discovery at an archaeological site, artifacts are taken to a museum where they are cleaned, labeled and photographed by museum staff. The site is also digitally photographed and analyzed so it can be further studied. She plans to work in a museum upon graduation from Luther, so she appreciated learning the processing of artifacts.

Since Gmitro is studying Greek, she was delighted to experience it being spoken and written through her internship experience. She also appreciated being able to see and work hands-on with Greek and Roman remains, instead of only learning about them from a textbook.

Gmitro was able to work alongside Archaeologists completing work in the field and in the museum. “Since I would like my career to involve working within a museum, I found it useful to see how artifacts are processed and cared for after being found,” she said.

Approximately 10 percent of Luther students take an internship for academic credit each academic year. The Luther College Career Center assists students with their internship search through resume preparation, networking, online internship searches, career fairs, on-campus interviewing, and connecting the student to alumni through the college’s Alumni Internship Program. Students meet with a faculty adviser prior to the internship to create an internship learning plan that includes learning goals and assessment benchmarks. An internship work supervisor also assists in the process by writing an evaluation of the student at the end of the internship. Students also complete a self-reflection form to help finalize the learning experience.

A national liberal arts college with an enrollment of 2,050, Luther offers an academic curriculum that leads to the Bachelor of Arts degree in more than 60 majors and pre-professional programs. For more information about Luther visit the college’s website: http://www.luther.edu.