Two Kodiak Locals and Former Alutiiq Museum Interns Join Staff

Kayla Desroches/KMXT

Two new Alutiiq Museum employees are Kodiak locals and former Alutiiq Museum interns.

Molly Odell, who will handle museum grants as Project Manager, she says she pursued a master’s degree in archaeology and can trace that interest back to her childhood in Chiniak.

“There was a big archeological dig right next to my house. It was on the property of Dale and Marie Rice, and an archaeologist from Harvard University was doing an excavation there in the late 1980s and early 1990s, so I was a little kid, but I sort of hung around and they let me play in the back dirt and stuff, so I’ve wanted to be an archaeologist since I was 3 years old.”

She and new collections and exhibits specialist, Alexandra Painter, say they both had internships in the Alutiiq Museum’s Community Archaeology program. Painter says her new job with the Alutiiq Museum is what made her stay on island.

“This is an incredible opportunity, and I’m just so happy to be working there with such incredible people. So talented and really love what they do. It’s inspiring every day.”

Painter says she began a few weeks ago. Meanwhile, Odell joined the team Wednesday.