Summertime, and the living is nine-to-five

Spied any new faces along the streets of Stanardsville lately? 
They could very well be interns spending their summer here in Greene.
Kip McCharen, 22, is one of them.  The 22-year old graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelors of Science in Economics and a Bachelors of Arts in International Affairs. That was on May 9.
Just two days later, he began working an unpaid internship at the county’s Economic Development Authority office.
McCharen has been researching “how money spent by economic development brings businesses into the county.“
Economic Development Director Tony Williams says such information is valuable.
“We will be able to show the benefit of dollars allocated to economic development,“ says Williams. “This produces increased revenue and job creation, which in turn provides better jobs for local residents and a self-sustaining community.“
  McCharen says he’s enjoyed his work experience here. 
  “It’s a great staff, good atmosphere and refreshing.“
  What’s more, he’s just been offered a full-time job as a junior analyst with E Squared Inc, Ecology and Economics, in downtown Charlottesville.
  He says working here helped him get the job.
  “My internship here gave me an opportunity to learn new professional skills,“ McCharen explains. “I’m interested in studying development, and I learned what tools to use to help an area develop or start the process of developing.“
  Two other interns—the “Jennifers” as they are known around town - hope to profit from their time this summer in Stanardsville, too. 
    Jennifer Hugman, 21, and Jennifer Wiley, 22, have been interning with the Greene County Historical Society since May 26, via Phyllis Leffler and the Institute for Public History, a program of the University of Virginia. Both are UVA graduates.
  Originally, the historical society planned to choose just one intern. But the skills of the young ladies complemented each other so much that both were chosen, says Greene County Historical Society President Jackie Pamenter. 
Hugman is a double major—art history and English—and brings her experience as a volunteer for the Albemarle-Charlottesville Historical Society to Greene.
  Wiley, a Latin major, has worked at the special collections library at UVA, where she photographed, scanned documents and put them into digital catalogues. She’s trained in handling rare materials.
  The two are helping to catalogue the hundreds of collection items at the society and to organize these items into a database, which includes donor info, a description of each item, and the condition of the item.
  “The end result will be a computer database, plus individual hard copy pages documenting each item,“ says Pamenter. “From the database, we’ll be able to sort by interest areas. It will be easier to find objects.“
And easier to plan exhibits.
The society had a database already in place when the interns started, but “not very complete,“ says Hugman. “We’re providing greater detail on the description of the item.“
By the end of the first month of work, the ladies had already documented hundreds of items for the society.
“So far we have 746 items (catalogued),“ declares Hugman. “And we are not done yet.“ 
Combing through “mystery items” from the past can prove interesting, says Wiley. One of her favorite:  a silver-plated fork bent severely out of place.
  “It’s one of those item where you’ve got to wonder what happened to it,“ says Wiley. “It looks more like a scary hand.“
Hugman plans to go to graduate school to study architectural history at UVA. Wiley plans to attend grad school for library science and digital archiving. She says working at the Historical Society has helped confirm her career choice. 
“ This is proof that this is what I want to do,“ says Wiley. “To be working with actual items, to be able to see something that someone actually cherished in their homes, that’s what I like.“
Pamenter says that this is the first time the Historical Society has had interns.
“We couldn’t have done this without the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, which gave us a grant for $2,000 to help us pay for them.“
She praises both “Jennifers” for their hard work. 
“Both of them have volunteer experience that was absolutely suited to what we’re trying to do,“ says Pamenter. “It’s worked out very well. They are so conscientious about documenting what we have.“