Jessica Burgess
Jessica Burgess is finishing her junior year, working towards a Bachelor of Arts in History. Jessica is a wife and mother to two school age children and is passionate about history. After graduation she will use her degree to enter the field of public history with a focus on archival work. She discovered her passion for archival work while interning at Fairfax County Circuit Court Historic Records Center. Recently she studied at the University of Oxford where she was given the opportunity to visit the archives of Christ Church College, and was able to handle the foundation charter signed by Henry VIII. She looks forward to joining the collective effort to maintaining important historic documents. She is from Glendale, Arizona, but has lived all over the country as an Army wife.
Brenna Reilley
Brenna Reilley is a junior working on her Bachelor of Arts in History, and recently returned to the US from a term spent in Oxford. The Honors College and History Department courses at Mason gave her ample research opportunities to pursue topics in which she is especially interested, such as East German Cinema, Vietnam War education, and women's work in taverns. She enjoys traveling and went on Mason's Winter Break trip to Vietnam in January 2018. Throughout her time at Mason, she has taken advantage of the department’s internship program to pursue internships at Brentsville Historic Centre, The National League of POW/MIA Families, and The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Originally from Horsham, Pennsylvania, she chose to go to GMU because of the close proximity to Washington, D.C. for internships and jobs. Her plans for after graduation include graduate school in either Museum Studies or Library Science. She is passionate about public history and the access and education museums and libraries provide. She also hope to continue research in various topics of interest.