June Ahn is a second year masters student in the Museum and Exhibition Studies program at University of Illinois, Chicago. She received her undergraduate degree in Biological Sciences from Smith College. As a student, she interned at the Smith College Botanic Garden, the Royal Botanic Garden in London and at a molecular plant laboratory at the University of Chicago. For the NPHM, she will be developing a community garden in partnership with our neighbor, the Taylor Street Farms.
June said she feels really fortunate to have grown up in a lot of different places. She was born in Seoul, and moved to Denver with her parents when she was three, then the San Francisco Bay Area after middle school. “I moved to Northampton, Massachusetts to attend college and most recently moved to Chicago, Illinois for my master's education. Each place has provided so many learning and growing opportunities,” she said.
The NPHM internship is particularly meaningful for June. “Since my first year in the Museum and Exhibition Studies graduate program, I wanted to work at an institution that uses collaborative, intersectional, and radical thinking to undertake large scale problems. Through this project, I'm excited to combine my interests in plant biology, landscape studies, and archival research to continue advocating for the importance of green spaces.”