This post is part of our Internship Spotlight series. For this installment, we spoke with Zhiyue Chen (’26) about her internship experience at the Woodland Park Zoo.
When I first joined Woodland Park Zoo as a data collector, I didn’t imagine that holding an iPad in the summer sun could teach me so much about empathy, evaluation, and people. As a second-year Museology student passionate about evaluation, I’ve always been fascinated by how museums and cultural spaces can collect meaningful data and turn them into stories that drive real change. The zoo became the perfect testing ground for that curiosity.
My role involved both quantitative and qualitative data collection and coding for several evaluation projects. We gathered more than 1,000 visitor surveys and over 400 interviews throughout the summer, numbers that eventually became part of the zoo’s 2025 Annual Guest Experience Report, an empathy study soon to be implemented nationwide, and so many more. It was exciting to know that our daily fieldwork would eventually shape decisions and improve how people experience zoos across the world.
But what surprised me most was how human the work felt. At the beginning of this internship, I was just trying to keep up by figuring out the zoo’s map, memorizing animal habitats, answering visitors’ spontaneous questions. Soon, I realized that evaluation isn’t just about data collection. It’s about building trust, being kind, and meeting people where they are. Some of my favorite moments came from visitors who lingered to share how the zoo made them feel, or from kids proudly telling me about their favorite animals. I learned that being a good evaluator often means being a good listener.
This experience reshaped how I think about my career. I’ve come to see evaluation as a vital bridge between institutions and audiences, one that gives museums a way to listen and to respond with purpose. At the same time, I discovered how much I enjoy working directly with visitors. There’s something special about being part of that moment of connection—when people see, feel, or learn something new because of what we helped create. That realization continues to guide me now in my current internship with the Seattle Art Museum’s Public Engagement department, where I get to put this balance of research and empathy into practice every day.
My classes at UW gave me the foundation of both the technical tools and the ethical grounding. Learning how to design instruments, analyze findings, and interpret results taught me to approach every project with care and humility. But being at the zoo reminded me that behind every data point is a person, and behind every evaluation is a story waiting to be understood. That’s the kind of work I want to keep doing—work that listens, connects, and makes museums a little more human.