MFL MarMac High School students Isla Henkes and Corbin Evanson are gaining valuable workforce experience and growing their interest in local history through summer positions at the McGregor Historical Museum.
Staffing is supported by Iowa’s Workforce Development Work Experience Program (WEP), a grant-funded, work-based learning internship designed to prepare youth and adults ages 14 to 24 for high-demand careers.
McGregor Historical Society Board Secretary Elise Martins proposed the partnership. She’s an MFL MarMac teacher and holds a work experience coordinator certificate at the school.
“Working at the school, I learned about this opportunity with Iowa Workforce Development, where they will invest in high school students to help support area businesses and nonprofits, to help them create jobs for high school students, give them a leg up in the workforce and learn what is needed to be successful in the workforce. Iowa Workforce Development will also help offset the cost of the wages,” she explained. “I thought, ‘Gosh, this would really help the museum.’ We are a nonprofit agency and our budget is pretty limited. So this helps us with staffing and creates jobs for high school students. It’s a win-win all the way around.”
Henkes and Evanson spent most of June training, working together while Martins supervised. But for the past month, they’ve begun working independently to fulfill the museum’s day-to-day duties. They’ll staff the museum through the remainder of the summer and on weekends this fall.
The interns’ duties have included merchandising and pricing for the gift shop, then running the point of sale system.
“I always have them working on the laptop, doing a lot of advertising, creating posters, displays and mockups. Also a business card for people who have questions or maybe want to donate,” Martins said.
“I have designed a couple things, like some of our signs. And we have new shirts coming that I designed,” Henkes noted.
“Corbin had the distinct privilege of putting up with my hair brained ideas of finding local things and repurposing them to create souvenirs that either cost us very little or next to nothing,” Martins shared.
Evanson has also helped move and build exhibits, carried deaccessioned items to the second floor and performed maintenance inside and outside the building.
“I do a lot of maintenance and moving things around, shelf restocking and cleaning,” he said.
During weekends in June, the two managed the free kids activities as part of the Clayton County Museum Crawl.
Then, of course, they greet visitors and help them learn about McGregor and the museum’s exhibits.
Evanson is amazed at how far some visitors have traveled.
“They come from all over the place. One was from Oklahoma and one was from Albuquerque. Another one was from Maine,” he recalled.
Henkes enjoys talking to people.
“I’ll talk about some of the big, more well-known exhibits,” she said, “and I will explain some stuff better because some of our signs don’t do it justice.”
They’ve both appreciated learning more about local history. Evanson is drawn to McGregor’s Mississippi River history, like the ferries and steamboat magnate Diamond Jo Reynolds. He also likes the Ringling Brothers, who started their circus in McGregor as boys.
Henkes said that connection surprises most visitors.
“A lot of people come in here thinking that they’re just going to kill a little bit of time in the AC, not really thinking they’re going to see much. They don’t realize that the Ringling Brothers started here,” she shared. “It’s always pretty cool to get people talking, too, because you’ll hear stories about them going to the circuses.”
Her favorite items at the museum, however, are the Andrew Clemens sand bottles.
“I did a deep dive on that,” Henkes said. “I read the whole entire book that we have, and then I did more research too. I normally talk about that exhibit the most because some people just walk by it. They don’t realize how well known [the sand bottles] are in the antique world. So I try to stop people and tell them more about it. It’s quite cool.”
Martins believes Henkes and Evanson are gaining valuable communication and problem-solving skills through their internships.
At the end of June, Iowa Workforce Development handed over payroll control to an outside agency, affecting how the students submitted hours and even receipt of paychecks. That required working through the ups and downs and advocating for themselves, Martins added.
“It’s just giving them a taste of what it’s like in the actual workforce,” she quipped.
Martins is hopeful the museum can continue the partnership in 2027. “We thought we would pilot it this year and see how it goes,” she added, “and it’s been going very well so far for us, I think.”
