“I graduated [college] in May 2025 and was just looking at jobs, one being here at the Freedom Center. I applied for it because I have a background in event planning. I got the job for a job. I think I got hired in June. So it was a very, very quick transition. Before I worked here, I worked at the orchestra and trained there, and I was surprised that the orchestra was a very big institution. So when I moved here, I thought, oh, it was a very similar building size—I thought would be a big staff. So I was surprised that we were actually a lot smaller than what I expected. People wearing multiple hats.

"We work well together. Nothing stopped us.

"You know, I had a client who came in one day and asked me an uncomfortable question: 'Why is it okay for me to celebrate [at the Freedom Center]?'

"I think it was for like a birthday party. A birthday party, here, at a museum of not very pretty history. And I remember I told them, 'Well, yeah, it's not very pretty history. I still think it's important to know, also, your support, your money is going to a good cause. And while I'm not personally the one [doing] programming, [your money] is still coming to a cause where people like Shawnee [VP of Education and Interpretation] can come and do a beautiful and important thing for the community.'

"And so, I think it's important to have museums like this where those things can happen.

"When someone says 'freedom' to me, it means, I guess, kind of giving the ability for someone to think they can really do anything they want to do.

"For me, when I think of freedom, it means I can if I wanted to work in events or I want to work anywhere... kind of giving that perspective that I can accomplish something that I may or may not know I would have had or had the opportunity to do so.

"To me, it means the freedom to dream. I guess it's the best way to say it."