People in the History Field: Director of Education

What is your name, position, and organization you work for?
Thomas Frezza, Director of Education, The National Museum of the US Navy. The museum is a part of the Naval History and Heritage Command, which is a command of the Navy, located at the Washington Navy Yard.

What does your job entail? What do you do on a daily basis?
My job entails a wide range of responsibilities. As Director of Education, I am in charge of all education programming in the museum. This includes tours, lectures, and outreaches. I am also in charge of developing content for said tours, online programs, and videos. Another huge part of my day to day is scheduling all of these events, along with guided and self-guided tours. I have two other staff members under me, who assist with everything and also cover visitor services duties. This goes on daily, monthly, and yearly. We also take part in outreaches to historic sites, museum ships, air shows, fleet weeks, and Navy weeks.

Do you think you need a degree to get this job?
Yes, I think you do need a degree to get this job. I have a Masters in History, though I think a Masters in Educator would also qualify a candidate.

How did you get started in this line of work?
I have a background in history that goes back several years. For almost three years, I worked for the National Park Service in the Education Department at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park. From there I moved to the National Museum of Civil War Medicine, where I worked in several positions, working my way up. I applied to my current job two years ago through the federal process and was able to get it.

How did others get their start? Are there other ways in?
I think there are several ways to get your start. I always credit varied experience in the history field in giving me a step up above over candidates. Its a long way to do it, but you will be better rounded and ready for any situation.

How do you get a job in your position? What are the steps?
I searched for and applied on USA Jobs, which is where all federal jobs are posted.

How do you progress in this line of work?
Very slowly. Once you are in the federal service, you have to wait about three years before you can really move on (and up) with safety. And you have to do it yourself by applying for jobs that step you up.

Why do you like this position? What are the benefits? Are these typical?
I like this job because the education department is the public face of the museum. I enjoy talking with people, answering questions, and making sure they leave with a little more knowledge then what they came in with.

What do you not like about this position? What are some of the drawbacks? Are these typical? 
I don't like the fact that the museum is on an active military base and that can be difficult for the general public to visit. This is typical for most Department of Defense [DOD] museums. It is one of the reasons why I rely heavily on outreaches.

Is this a rapidly growing field? Is it possible to predict future needs for workers in this field? 
I don't think this is a rapidly growing field. Jobs, at times, can be few and far between, and entry level positions are even rarer. I think in the future that will change, with a whole generation reaching retirement age. But it all depends on the government continuing to fund the DOD museum. 

Consider the phrase: "Knowing what I know now, I would so something differently"? What would you do?
I would stay the course, but if I could, or had the choice, I would have stayed with the National Park Service. I enjoyed my time with the Green and Grey [the uniform of the NPS is a grey shirt and green trousers]

What would be the best thing you could suggest to someone if they wanted to be a Director of Education?
Get all the experience you can, and make sure that it is varied.

Is this a position that you would recommend to others as a line or work to get into?
Yes, without a doubt. I am able to reach many people, including veterans, and the experience is amazing.

A lot of people are concerned about what the pay would be for their jobs, what kind of answer would you give to answer that question?
I am doing very well. My position is a GS-11, and my wife and I are very comfortable. What blew me away is that I have retirement and health insurance, which I did not have when working for a private non-profit. 

Thank you Tom, for spending the time to answer my questions! You can see more about Tom's work at this link: https://www.history.navy.mil/content/history/museums/nmusn.html

Site Visit: The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes

The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes in downtown
Fort Scott, KS

The town of Fort Scott is home not only to a National Historic Site, but home to a unique museum. The Lowell Milken Center for Unsung Heroes sits in downtown. It was created as a result of an extraordinary chain of events starting back in 1999. In that year a teacher in Uniontown, KS, near Fort Scott, gave his students an assignment for National History Day. They found a newspaper clipping about a woman, Irena Sendler, who had saved over 2,500 children from the Warsaw Ghetto in Poland during German occupation. As they delved into Irena's story they decided to make a play based on her efforts and highlight her courage and accomplishments. When they discovered that she was still living, they made efforts to contact her and then as time went on, to eventually meet with her. The teacher partnered with Lowell Milken, an international businessman and philanthropist who supported the play called "Life in a Jar" and established the Lowell Milken Center to bring to light unsung heroes from all over the world that teach compassion, respect, and understanding. The Center encourages educators and students to create projects that tell their selected heroes' stories through performances, exhibits, websites, documentaries, or other forms of art medium and share them with the world. Some of these projects receive prizes and further recognition. The new center has many of these former projects and exhibitions on display.

The inside of the Lowell Milken Center

One Unsung Hero project had some resonance with my background. Called the Adam Shoemaker project, it highlighted Adam Shoemaker's influence over a young Abraham Lincoln. Shoemaker was a teacher, preacher, and abolitionist who had settled in southern Indiana, not far from where the Lincolns had their homestead and he preached in the church where the Lincolns attended. Having been to Lincoln's boyhood home and worked at his birthplace, I saw a thread connecting Shoemaker, Lincoln, the Lowell Milken Center at Fort Scott, and myself. Lincoln credits Shoemaker as having an early influence upon his views of opposing slavery.

The Center also highlights the roles of Ken Reinhardt and Ann Williams and their friendship to Elizabeth Eckford. Ms. Eckford was one of the Little Rock Nine who broke the color barrier of segregation by attending the formerly all-white high school in 1957. While not diminishing the courage or the hardships of the Little Rock Nine, the project focused on Reinhardt's hardships being a white student who had to face hatred and discrimination as well from his fellow white students. In spite of peer pressure and intimidation, Ken Reinhardt and Ann Williams, another white student, helped Eckford and other black students in their classes through their year at school before it was shut down.

"What do you stand for?" is a call
to action on the part of the visitor

One of the distinguishing features of the Center was its use of interpretive techniques. While it is informative and illuminating to read and experience the stories of unsung heroes getting a little light to shine in, the heroes each have a simple common theme: they saw something wrong and did something about it. Some of the things they did had great consequences, others had subtle and personal meaning, but all did something that changed the way things were for the better. The main exhibit area charges visitors with an interpretive technique called "Call to Action". A large poster for portraits and selfies asks visitors, "What do you stand for?" Essentially, it overtly asks the visitors what they believe and what they choose to do about it. Faced with an injustice, will the visitors be bystanders or will they act on their beliefs? "Call to Action" is a tremendous interpretive technique that can powerfully conclude an interpretive program and provoke the visitors with the information presented to them in a manner that they must address within themselves. In all the projects the students' pursuit of the stories makes them personal and therefore meaningful projects; there are so many unsung heroes out there, but why they are important to the investigating students is a matter of interpreting those stores in meaningful ways.

Much of the Center exhibits are flat panel pictures and text, which can be wearisome after a while. Big text and pictures and the inclusion of mixed art pieces bring the interest back up; some artifacts are used and some tactile objects are available, but the site has a decidedly 'adult' feel that children may not respond to very well. Indeed, many of the themes of the projects are real world problems that adults and some children have to deal with that can be scary, but by and large, children may have some trouble with the content and presentations of the Center. The Center also utilizes some of the vacant downtown storefronts with standing posters exhibiting other unsung heroes. The Lowell Milken Center is an excellent use of time if people  have a free morning or afternoon to visit while they are in southeastern Kansas and want to know more about the good that is being done around the world, and is an excellent interpretive museum.

You can find more information about the Lowell Milken Center at this link: https://www.lowellmilkencenter.org/