Talk to Kylie Flynn '19 and you get the distinct impression she is running into the future with her arms open wide. There is nothing she can't tackle, nothing she wants to leave undone. Life, and her future career, are focused on true experience.
Granted, she has quite the head start. She graduated from St. Ambrose with a double major in art history and marketing, and also minored in museum studies and arts administration. She spent a semester abroad in London and completed two internships - one working in the university archives and the other working with children at the nonprofit Quincy (Illinois) Arts Center.
And, Flynn was the first recipient of the Museum Studies Award at St. Ambrose, a surprise that "verified my professors were proud of me and my hard work was worth something and was recognized," she said.
Her drive to truly experience learning, combined with encouragement from Professor and Director of the Art History and Museum Studies program Terri Switzer, PhD, led Flynn to enter the graduate program in Museum Studies at the Lorenzo de' Medici Institute in Florence, Italy.
Yes, Italy, the center of early Renaissance art. "This area is so full of culture and art. I can make any museum my classroom," she said.
Flynn will take classes for a year, followed by a year-long internship. Students at the Institute have been placed at world-renowned museums and Flynn already is working on an internship application for the Getty Museum in Los Angeles, while considering placements in France and Florence, too.
Flynn was a ‘homebody' in high school. That changed when she came to St. Ambrose, and she grew even more outgoing when she studied abroad for a semester.
"It helped me realize I can do anything I put my mind to. I love learning about different cultures, about art history, to travel and see new things," she said.
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