Introducing our Intern, Allee Herron
Allee Herron is a senior at Hamilton County Collegiate High School, fulfilling a dual enrollment internship with the National Park Partners through the University of Tennessee Chattanooga.
Like our previous two interns, Allee came to us with a recommendation from UTC’s Department of History Head and UC Foundation Associate Professor, Dr. Michael D. Thompson, Ph.D. This relationship between the Department of History at the University of Tennessee and National Park Partners goes back years and is important to us on many levels, including passing on the values of stewardship and our mission to the next generation. We always welcome the chance to work with Dr. Thompson’s students on a variety of projects and this year is no exception.
Allee is a standout candidate for many reasons fueled by an inner drive and curiosity that finds her, at 17 years of age, set to graduate from high school this year with 60 college credits already completed, including the internship this semester with National Park Partners.
Allee has lived in Chattanooga all of her life, and tells us she has always enjoyed “the beautiful nature of the area and the rich history surrounding it.” Allee says she hopes to study history when she begins college next year, so that she may go on to share her love of the subject with others, perhaps as a university-level History Professor one day. In addition to a love of history, and cultural anthropology, Allee is also interested and gifted in Creative Writing. In fact, in 2019 Allee was the First Place Winner in Chattanooga State’s Writers@Work Essay Contest. On the occasion she finds herself with nothing to do, Allee says she can be found with a cup of good tea or coffee “plopped down on the back porch with my cat and a good book.”
It is no surprise that Allee has wasted no time at all jumping into a new project with us this winter to help us better share the stories from the Park in the digital age. Allee is helping us develop a new interactive timeline project for the Moccasin Bend Archaeological District that we hope to launch on our website later this summer. She will be conducting research and interviews and working with staff to coordinate the multi-media components of the District’s amazing 12,000-year history. Her work on this project will help us engage more people in support of our Forever Moccasin Bend campaign to open a Gateway to the Nation’s only Archaeological District.
“I am having so much fun. This history of Moccasin Bend is so exciting. We have all lived here surrounded by this but no one really talks about it. This is an important part of us.”
Yup, Allee gets it.
Allee Herron, National Park Partners Spring Intern, pictured here with her beloved cat, Perseus.