Interview with Jacob Mendelssohn
Date26 February 2025
Mediumborn digital audio file
DimensionsDuration: 50 Minutes, 17 Seconds
ClassificationsInformation Artifacts
Credit LineCommunity History Project Collection
Description(a) Audio file of interview with Jacob Mendelssohn. He was interviewed by Lauren Palen on 26 February 2025 in West Hartford, CT. (b) Photograph of Jacob Mendelssohn taken at his interview.
Jacob (Jake) Mendelssohn was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in his life.
The interview is conducted by Lauren Palen for the Community History Project at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. The interviewee, Jacob (Jake) Mendelssohn, introduces himself, as a semi retired individual and he discusses his change of how everything he planned for did not happen and how his life turned out to be something completely unexpected.
Jacob starts his story off by describing his childhood in Pennsylvania and interests of building various things. He eventually wanted to become an engineer. He faced some pushback from his parents as they wanted something different for him. He ended up studying chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After this experience, he found himself struggling to find work he really enjoyed. He then found a teaching job at Talcott Mountain Science Center in Avon, Connecticut. He enjoyed this experience greatly as it offered him an opportunity to learn and teach various subjects. This opportunity opened him up to the Connecticut Invention Convention, which he is still a part of today, and his teaching position at Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science.
Jacob describes various stories working for the Connecticut Invention Convention and how this has given him the opportunity to travel, learn from others, and interact with people and their ideas all over the world. This gives him great pride and joy to continue learning and working with these people. He describes how he did not let his formal education limit his opportunities and how important it is to keep having learning experiences.
Jacob mentions certain stories of people who have impacted him through the work that he was doing and how much that means to him. He emphasizes the importance of learning experiences and how they have changed everything he planned for in life.
Jacob (Jake) Mendelssohn was interviewed as part of the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History's Community History Project discussing moments of change in his life.
The interview is conducted by Lauren Palen for the Community History Project at the Connecticut Museum of Culture and History. The interviewee, Jacob (Jake) Mendelssohn, introduces himself, as a semi retired individual and he discusses his change of how everything he planned for did not happen and how his life turned out to be something completely unexpected.
Jacob starts his story off by describing his childhood in Pennsylvania and interests of building various things. He eventually wanted to become an engineer. He faced some pushback from his parents as they wanted something different for him. He ended up studying chemical engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After this experience, he found himself struggling to find work he really enjoyed. He then found a teaching job at Talcott Mountain Science Center in Avon, Connecticut. He enjoyed this experience greatly as it offered him an opportunity to learn and teach various subjects. This opportunity opened him up to the Connecticut Invention Convention, which he is still a part of today, and his teaching position at Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science.
Jacob describes various stories working for the Connecticut Invention Convention and how this has given him the opportunity to travel, learn from others, and interact with people and their ideas all over the world. This gives him great pride and joy to continue learning and working with these people. He describes how he did not let his formal education limit his opportunities and how important it is to keep having learning experiences.
Jacob mentions certain stories of people who have impacted him through the work that he was doing and how much that means to him. He emphasizes the importance of learning experiences and how they have changed everything he planned for in life.
Object number2024.79.10a-b
NotesSubject Note: The Connecticut Museum of Culture and History’s Community History Project (CHP) is a public-facing initiative, focused on contemporary collecting, gathering items of the recent past as well as from events happening today. This program developed community historians to identify, document, and preserve their experiences as residents of Connecticut, and to share these experiences during a series of community presentations. The project focused on the theme "Redefining Moments of Change." Conneticans share stories of people or events who have changed their lives or how they have sparked change in the lives of others.Cataloging Note: Digitization and access to this collection is supported by a Congressionally Directed grant through the U.S. Department of Education.
Subject Terms
- West Hartford
- Oral history
- Interviews
- Oral narratives
- Jewish people
- Men
- Engineers
- Education
- Life Alert
- Talcott Mountain Science Center
- Connecticut Invention Convention
- Teachers
- Students
- Creativity
- Global Innovation Field Trip
- Family
- Active learning
- Interviews and Oral Histories
- Born Digital Audio
- Community History Project U.S. Department of Education grant
- Redefining Moments of Change Collection
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