My name is Josh and I am 26 and attending the University of Washington for my Masters in Museology! I have always loved history and working with people, so after years of thinking and finishing my Bachelor’s degree in History and Anthropology, I decided to pursue a career in museums. I’m a recent transplant to Seattle and so far I’ve loved living here! I love discussing various history topics, especially Tudor history! I’m very excited to be an intern here with In My Backyard Northwest and am very eager to see what this quarter brings!

Where are you from?
I’m originally from Springville, Alabama, which is a small town north of Birmingham.

What’s your favorite discussion topic?
My favorite discussion topic would have to be history. More specifically Tudor history or ancient Egyptian history.

What are your three biggest adventures?

1. I went to London for two weeks after graduating from undergrad, a great experience.
2. My family went white water rafting in TN and my mom and I fell over the raft (it was very dramatic, my mom wanted the guide to leave here and save me, but we were both fine)
3. Moving to Washington for graduate school (I’ve never lived out of Alabama, so this has been quite an adventure so far and I’ve only been here since September!)

What’s your favorite Southern food?
There is so much great food in the South! My favorite and probably the thing I miss most about the South is my grandmaw’s peach cobbler. No one can make it better than her!

Do you have any past internship experience?
I don’t have any past internship experience, but I did volunteer for a local museum back in Birmingham called Vulcan Park and Museum (with the world’s largest cast iron statue!). That’s where I became really interested in pursuing a career in museums and working with school kids to teach them about history and their city.

What’s your dream destination and why?
I would have to say London. After visiting a couple of years ago, I fell in love with the city. There are so many things to do and I love all the history and architecture. Hopefully one day, I’ll be able to afford to live there!

What’s your favorite color?
My favorite color is Blue.

What did you want to be growing up?
I wanted to be a counselor for a very long time. I’ve always wanted to help people in some capacity. I’m a very people person and I wanted to have a job where I could help people. But, a teacher who said being a counselor was mainly just paper work and it wouldn’t be exactly what I wanted shot down that dream in high school. On a positive note, that’s when I became really interested in history, which led to a double major in history and anthropology and now I’m pursuing a Museology degree at UW.

What’s your favorite museum?
My favorite museum, that’s such a hard question, I love them all! My all time favorite would have to be the British Museum. I loved seeing in person, all the Egyptian artifacts that I spent years studying in books. It was surreal.

What is your favorite memory of your backyard?
My favorite backyard memory is probably my family’s least favorite. When I was probably six years old, I wandered into the woods at my grandparent’s house. They had a creek that ran behind their house and we (my cousins and I) would play around there. One day I was there and my mom called for me to come in, well, I never answered. That caused an all out panic in the house and everyone was searching for me. I was perfectly fine, just sitting in the woods listening to them call my name like it was some kind of game. They constantly remind me of that story.