Museum ‘Magic’ Fuels UMW Student’s Career in Curation

May 5, 2026

Sarah Hertz Mahoney

Senior Makayla Bowman at the Fredericksburg Area Museum — University of Mary Washington senior Makayla Bowman’s college journey included a double major in anthropology and historic preservation, a minor in museum studies, presentations at regional conferences and internships geared toward a career in curation. Photo by Parker Michels-Boyce.

When her family moved to Northern Virginia, University of Mary Washington Honors student Makayla Bowman spent many a weekend exploring the Smithsonian museums in nearby Washington, D.C. The quiet power of those spaces – even at the age of seven – stirred something inside her.

“After those magical museum visits,” she said, “I knew I didn’t just want to learn about history. I wanted to tell it.”

Now a senior double majoring in anthropology and historic preservation, she’s learning to help others understand how the past shapes the present, while carving out her own future – a career in museum curation.

“I love getting hands-on with artifacts and telling their stories,” said Bowman, who also added a museum studies minor and completed internships at the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Gari Melchers Home and Studio. “It’s about making history approachable, something everyone can see and understand.”

She’s worked on tours, exhibits and programming, and even participated in a medieval burial site excavation in Spain. As a student aide in UMW’s Archaeology Laboratory and Simpson Library Special Collections and University Archives (SCUA), she co-curated an exhibit detailing the century-long history of the school’s annual Devil-Goat Day tradition.

Makayla Bowman standing in the library aisle with graduation robes and cords

Bowman at the podium with a presentation on the screen beside her

An exhibit with artifacts from Bowman's co-curated exhibit for Devil-Goat Day

Bowman works at a table cross mending glass in an office

Bowman holding a pick ax on an excavation in Spain

Makayla Bowman is a senior double majoring in anthropology and historic preservation with a museum studies minor.

Bowman presents her mortuary archaeology research at the Mid-Atlantic Archaeology Conference in Gettysburg.

Titled “One Hundred Years of Horns,” this exhibit was developed by Bowman alongside fellow SCUA aide Clementine Worshek ’28 and was on display in UMW’s Simpson Library.

Bowman mends glass while serving as a student aide in UMW’s Archaeology Laboratory.

Bowman participated in a medieval burial site excavation in Spain in 2024.

The exhibit, titled One Hundred Years of Horns, was developed by Bowman alongside fellow SCUA aide Clementine Worshek ’28. Together, the duo researched archival materials to showcase the long-standing rivalry between odd and even graduation years. The project was on display during the spring semester in UMW’s Simpson Library.

Also president of the Humanities and Social Sciences Society, vice president of Columns Academic Journal and statistician for the women’s volleyball team, Bowman credits much of her drive to mentors, like Associate Professor of Historic Preservation Cristina Turdean, who, she said, “pushed me to reach higher.”

Bowman’s work has gained attention beyond campus as well. She presented mortuary archaeology research at the Mid-Atlantic Archaeology Conference in Gettysburg and participated in the National Preservation Institute’s seminar on cultural landscapes in Fredericksburg. She also spoke about archival collections on a panel at the Virginia Association of Museums Conference in Williamsburg and represented UMW’s Historic Preservation Department at the Edenton Preservation Symposium in North Carolina.

Bowman poses outdoors on campus with graduation robe and cords

Bowman and three other panelists pose for a photo while sitting at a table

Three women smiling together in the Ron Rosner arena on campus

Bowman posing in front of a building in Williamsburg

A display Bowman curated detailing Devil-Goat Day

Bowman gives the camera a thumbs up with students in the background are at tables in a classroom and movie is playing on a projection screen

Makayla Bowman hopes to help others understand how the past shapes the present, while carving out her own future career in museum curation.

Bowman (far right) served on a panel at the Virginia Association of Museums Conference in Williamsburg.

Bowman (right) poses with friends while volunteering as a statistician for the UMW women’s volleyball team.

Bowman visited Williamsburg for the Virginia Association of Museums Conference where she was a panelist discussing archival collections.

As a student aide in UMW’s Archaeology Laboratory and Simpson Library Special Collections and University Archives, Bowman co-curated an exhibit detailing the century-long history of Devil-Goat Day.

Bowman (right) helps host a Get Dirty, Go Wash Artifact Night where students – regardless of major – can gain experience washing artifacts in the lab while watching an archaeology-related film.

But all this work isn’t just for her. Bowman’s true hope is to dust off underrepresented stories and hold them up to the light, for all to see.

“History doesn’t just live in the past — it lives in the people who preserve, interpret and share it,” she said. “That’s the work I enjoy doing, and thanks to my time at UMW, I know I’m ready to do it.”

Makayla Bowman received the Cora Lee Kaufman Scholarship, Mary Siegrist Hinz ’81 Leadership Award and the Dovetail Cultural Resource Group Scholarship for History Preservation.

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