History grad student finds potential career through co-op position
Since accepting the Records Management and Archives Assistant co-op position in May, Thome said he's come to see it as a career choice he is interested in pursuing, despite the lack of sunlight.
Thome is a graduate student at Wichita State studying history. He also received his bachelor's degree in history from WSU. In the past, he spent time volunteering and interning at the Museum of World Treasures.
Now, he is responsible for diverse tasks within his office. Thome does anything from creating identification numbers for boxes of records, to retrieving records requests for county departments, to palletizing record boxes that will soon be destroyed.
"As I have learned more about records management, I have found the field to be quite interesting and am intrigued by how technology is influencing its future," Thome said.
He said he has increased his knowledge in cataloguing and caring for historically-valuable artifacts and documents, in addition to gaining skills in time management and meeting deadlines.
"This co-op has been extremely valuable because it gives me practical knowledge and experience of working in records management," Thome said. "The benefit of this working experience is that I encounter and learn things, which I would never encounter nor learn in a classroom.
"I know many organizations look for a combination of education and work experience. This provides me the opportunity to gain both at the same time."
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