RELEASED: June 17, 2004

DANVILLE, KY—Melissa Powell '03 enjoys history. She made a little of her own when the Kentucky Historical Society recently named her its Volunteer of the Year.

Powell was honored for her time and dedication to the KHS, which has three museum sites in Frankfort, Ky., and tells the stories of Kentucky's history.

Powell, who received a degree in history from Centre, held two internships at the KHS during her senior year. She learned of the opportunity from Elizabeth Perkins, Centre's Davidson Associate Professor of History and worked with Centre's Career Services office to secure the internship.

In her first internship, Powell interned in the museum division. She gave tours and designed an exhibit that was displayed at the state capital building. In her second internship, she learned how to store artifacts properly. She cleaned the artifacts, photographed the items for the KHS database and stored them. The collection she worked on consisted of artifacts from the estate of the great saddlebred horse trainer Frank Bradshaw.

Upon receiving her award, Powell opened an exhibit titled "The Softer Side of Hard Times," which will be at the KHS through September. The exhibit focuses on the quilting legacy of Kentucky.

"It particularly interests me because my great-grandmother was a great quilter, and quilting is a tradition among the women of my family," Powell says. "The quilts and artifacts on exhibit are beautiful."

Following graduation Powell volunteered at Riverview at Hobson Grove, a historic Civil War-era home in Bowling Green, Ky. Powell created a Web site (http://www.bgky.org/riverview/index.htm) detailing the home. She worked with fellow Centre alumna Susan Johnson Redick '77, art administration director at Riverview.

Powell lives in Bowling Green, where she works for Kentucky Legal Aid. This organization provides legal services to low-income applicants throughout western Kentucky.

For more on the KHS, visit http://history.ky.gov/. To learn more about Career Services at Centre, go to http://web.centre.edu/careerd/.

An internship is just one opportunity that Centre guarantees to its students as part of the Centre Commitment (http://www.centre.edu/web/admission/publications/centrecommitment.html). This unique pledge by the College guarantees to all students who meet the College's academic expectations an internship, study abroad, and graduation in four concurrent years, or the College will provide up to a year of additional study tuition-free.

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Founded in 1819, Centre College is ranked among the U.S. News top-50 national liberal arts colleges. Centre alumni, known for their nation-leading loyalty in annual financial support, include two U.S. vice presidents and two Supreme Court justices. For more, visit http://www.centre.edu/web/elevatorspeech/

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