When Mataya Watson ’27 walks into the National Studebaker Museum in South Bend, she’s stepping into a space that feels that might be her career’s “natural habitat.”

A junior at Holy Cross College majoring in history on the Museum Studies track, Watson is completing her required internship in curatorial and archival work. For her, it’s the realization of a long-held goal.

“I knew I wanted to work in a museum and the goal is still to be a museum curator eventually,” she said.

A Partnership in Practice

The National Studebaker Museum has become a formative site for local residents – and nearby Holy Cross community members – to exploring history, curation, and public engagement. Its blend of local legacy and national relevance provides an ideal laboratory for learning.

For Watson, that learning began quickly. The Museum recently opened an exhibition featuring the Studebaker used in 1978’s The Muppet Movie, and she was part of the installation team. In the front seat of the car of recreations of Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear, who called the car his “natural habitat.”

“I got to work to prop up Kermit and Fozzie for one of our cases,” she said. “It’s so fun that I’ve played a small role in bringing this to the community.”

In a very short amount of time, she had made herself indispensable at the museum. Her supervisors encouraged her from the start to take initiative and think creatively. Before the semester ends, Watson will curate her own exhibit around a 1958 Astral concept car—a project she hopes will capture the imagination of visitors. “I’m trying to do something sci-fi related and maybe interactive too,” she said.

Balancing Many Callings

If the Studebaker internship were her only commitment, Watson’s semester might still feel full. But she also holds two campus jobs, beginning most mornings in the dining hall at 7:30 a.m., and serves as president of Saints for Life, Holy Cross’s pro-life student organization. This month, the Catholic Church celebrated Respect Life Month, so her schedule is even more hectic.

Through that role, she participates in the Students for Life of America Leadership Collective, a national network that supports student leaders and campus initiatives. Her projects have included bringing an even more welcoming environment for expectant mothers on campus.

“It’s really interesting, stepping into a very public leadership role where my work is known and people come to me and ask questions and expect me to do things,” she said. “It’s like, okay—what does this look like? I can do it, but how do I do it well?”

The Discipline of Balance

Part of what stands out about Watson is not simply the length of her to-do list, but the way she talks about it. “Why not?” she asked, when describing her choice to add responsibilities rather than decline them. “If you have the time and you have the ability, why limit yourself? If something cool does come up, my mom has always been like, eh, let’s check it out. Why not?”

Her approach to time management is both practical and spiritual.

“My room is a mess right now,” she said, laughing, “but you can only do so many things. I make sure to make my bed. I try to go on runs Monday, Wednesday mornings, just to get out. I run to the Grotto (at the nearby University of Notre Dame), say a prayer and come back. I always go to Mass. But it’s being intentional with your time. As soon as the class schedule comes out over the summer, I write everything down, plot it out.”

Her planning gives her flexibility—the freedom to pause when a friend needs to talk or when inspiration strikes.

Living the Charism

Watson’s sense of purpose reflects the Holy Cross charism: the competence to see and the courage to act.

“Sometimes the competence to see is just, hey, you’re usually really bubbly and you’re not. What’s up? Or, if they’re acting more bubbly than usual, if they’re faking it, it’s like, hey, are you excited about something? Are you trying to hide something?”

And the courage, she said, “is in following through on class projects, on conversations, on friendships.”

Her professors and mentors see that same mindset in the way she approaches every opportunity: with curiosity, optimism, and gratitude.

Looking Ahead

Watson’s long-term goal is to work at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, now called Newfields—the same museum she visited often with her family growing up. For now, though, she’s finding her rhythm in South Bend, splitting her time between the Studebaker’s gleaming galleries and the Holy Cross campus that shaped her perspective.

Her grandfather, she remembers, used to repeat the mantra: know your history. At the Studebaker, history comes in chrome and steel: a blacksmith shop that evolved into an automaker, a company that once built wagons and war vehicles, and cars that rolled out of South Bend factories until the 1960s.

“When you visit a museum you’re not thinking about, how long did this take? How long did that take?” she said. “And now it’s interesting, because when I’m seeing pictures that people post at other museums, I’m like, oh, I wonder if I could find the wire. How did they set this and how they set that up? My view has changed.”

It’s that shift—from visitor to curator, from observer to participant that defines her growth.

“I think everybody could be busier,” she said. “Here, you only have one life. Why limit it?”